Baby P’s jailed mother Tracey Connolly bids for re-release

A parole hearing to decide whether to release again Baby P’s mother, jailed over her death after months of abuse, has heard “extremely emotional” victim impact statements from the child’s loved ones.

Tracey Connelly was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter – known as Baby P – at their home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3, 2007.

A public hearing is held to decide whether she can be released again or placed in open conditions.

Sally Allbeury, of the parole board committee, told the hearing Wednesday that she had heard statements from Peter’s relatives privately about their concerns about being granted parole.

“These statements informed the panel of the continuing impact of Peter’s death on the perpetrators and their concerns regarding Ms Connelly’s potential release,” Ms Allbeury said.

“Each also requested, should Ms Connelly be released, that certain conditions be put in place to protect them.

“We found these statements extremely moving.

“There is no doubt that Peter’s death has caused permanent harm to those who loved him.”

Now aged in her 40s, Connolly was recalled to prison last year after breaching her license conditions, having initially left prison in 2022 following a successful parole bid.

The parole board ruled she was suitable for release in March that year – after hearing she was considered a “low risk of offending again” and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.

This was despite the panel highlighting concerns about Connelly’s ability to manipulate and deceive, and hearing evidence of how she became embroiled in prison romances and exchanged secret love letters with an inmate.

Dominic Raab, then justice secretary, appealed the decision, but a judge rejected his request to keep her behind bars.

She had previously been released on license in 2013, but was recalled to prison in 2015 for breaching the conditions of her parole.

Three previous parole offers, in 2015, 2017 and 2019, were rejected.

Peter was found dead in his cot in 2007 after months of abuse at the hands of Connolly, her boyfriend Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen.

Connelly had admitted the offense of causing or permitting the death of her son and was sentenced to prison for public protection for a minimum period of five years.

Barker and Owen were convicted of the same crime.

A series of reviews identified missed opportunities for officials to save Peter’s life if they had responded correctly to warning signs.

Parole hearings are typically held behind closed doors, but a judge approved Connelly’s requests for review to be heard in public, concluding “there is no doubt that there is a substantial public interest” in the case.

Parole hearings are usually held behind closed doors, but a judge has allowed them to be heard in public because of the “substantial public interest” in the case, described by the commission as “one of the most high-profile and devastating child protection failures in UK history”.