Baby P (also known as Peter Connelly, “Child A” or “Baby Peter”) was a 17-month-old boy who died in London in 2007 after suffering more than fifty injuries over an eight-month period, during which he was repeatedly seen by the London Borough of Haringey Children’s Services and National Health Service (NHS) health professionals.
Baby P’s real first name was revealed as “Peter” on the conclusion of a subsequent trial of Peter’s mother’s boyfriend on a charge of raping a two-year-old. His full identity was revealed when his killers were named after the expiry of a court anonymity order on 10 August 2009.
The case caused shock and concern among the public and in Parliament, partly because of the magnitude of Peter’s injuries, and partly because Peter had lived in the London Borough of Haringey, North London, under the same child welfare authorities that had already failed seven years earlier in the case of Victoria Climbié,.
Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and Jason Owen the brother of Barker were all convicted of causing or allowing the death of a child, the mother has pleaded guilty to the charge.
Peter Connelly was born to Tracey Connelly on 1 March 2006. In November, Connelly’s new boyfriend, Steven Barker, moved in with her. In December, a general practitioner physician noticed bruises on Peter’s face and chest.
His mother was arrested and Peter was put into the care of a family friend but returned home to his mother’s care in January 2007.
Over the next few months, Peter was admitted to hospital on two occasions suffering from injuries including bruising, scratches and swelling on the side of the head. Connelly was arrested again in May 2007.
In June 2007, a social worker observed marks on Peter and informed the police. A medical examination concluded that the bruising was the result of child abuse. Again, on 4 June, baby P was placed with a friend for safeguarding.
On 25 July, Haringey Council’s Children & Young People’s Service obtained legal advice which indicated that the “threshold for initiating Care Proceedings…was not met”.
A day later, Connelly was informed that she would not be prosecuted.
The next day, an ambulance was called and Peter was found in his cot, blue and clad only in a nappy. After attempts at resuscitation, he was taken to North Middlesex Hospital with his mother but was pronounced dead at 12:20 pm.
A post-mortem revealed he had swallowed a tooth after being punched. Other injuries included the child suffered at the hands of his carers were a broken back, gashes to the head, a fractured shinbone, a ripped ear, blackened fingers, and toes, with a missing fingernail, skin torn from the nose and mouth, cuts on the neck and a tooth knocked out.
He suffered all these injuries even though he was on the child protection register at Haringey council. He was found dead in his cot in Haringey, north London in August 2007.
On 1 August 2007, Peter was seen at St. Ann’s Hospital in North London by locum paediatrician Dr Sabah Al-Zayyat. Serious injuries, including a broken back and broken ribs, very likely went undetected, as the autopsy report believed these to have pre-dated Al-Zayyat’s examination.
On 11 November 2008, Jason Owen, 36, and his brother Steven Barker, 32, were found guilty of “causing or allowing the death of a child or vulnerable person”. Tracey Connelly, 27, had already pleaded guilty to this charge.
Earlier in the trial, Jason Owen and Tracey Connelly had been cleared of murder because of insufficient evidence. Steven Barker was found not guilty of murder by a jury.
Owen’s sentence was changed on appeal to a fixed six-year term. He was released in August 2011, but later recalled to prison.
A second trial took place in April 2009, when Connelly and Barker, under aliases, faced charges related to the rape of a two-year-old girl. Tracy Connelly was alongside Steven Barker in the dock accused of child cruelty after it was alleged that she witnessed the rape but did nothing to stop it.
Steven Barker was found guilty of rape while Connelly was found not guilty of child cruelty charges.
Tracey Connelly received a sentence of “imprisonment for public protection”. Tracy Connelly was first freed on licence in 2013 but recalled to prison 18 months later in 2015 for breaching her parole. Steven Barker was sentenced to life imprisonment for the rape, with a minimum sentence of ten years, and a 12-year sentence for his role in the death of Peter, to run concurrently 22 years.
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Tracey Connelly (mother) Steven Barker (stepfather) Jason Owen (Stepfather’s brother) were charged with causing or allowing the death of a child.
Tracey Connelly was sentenced to 6 years in prison. She was released in 2013.
Jason Owen was sentenced to 6 years in prison. He was also later released.
Steven Barker was sentenced to 12 years for Peter’s death. He was later convicted of the rape of a 2 year old and was sentenced to life in prison in addition to the 12 years. Both sentences are to occur concurrently.
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