Mother of tortured toddler Baby P to face public parole hearing as she makes fresh bid for freedom

Daily Mail​

2 hours ago

The mother of tortured toddler Baby P will have her fresh bid for freedom heard by a public parole board - after a judge cited a 'substantial public interest' in the case.
Tracey Connelly, now 44, is set to make her plea over the course of October 22 and 23 at an unconfirmed venue.
It will mark the abuser's first review since her second recall to prison in August last year for breaching her licence conditions.
Connelly was jailed in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month son Peter at their home in Tottenham, north London, August 3, 2007.
She sought, alongside her lover Steven Barker and his brother Jason Owen, to cover up the injuries inflicted on the youngster - missed by social service and health workers.
Little Peter suffered more than 50 wounds over and eight-month period. These included a broken back, broken ribs, mutilated fingertips, and missing fingernails.
Tracey Connelly was initially released in 2013 but was later recalled to prison in 2015 for breaching her parole conditions.
She was released again in July 2022 after the parole board had rejected three previous bids in 2015, 2017 and 2019 -it was heard she was considered to be at 'low risk of committing a further offence' and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.
But after being called back to prison again in August last year - over breached licence conditions - Connelly will now face a review.
The Parole Board received two applications for October's review to be held in public, which described Connelly's 'landmark case' as 'one of the most high-profile and devastating child protection failures in UK history' that 'permanently altered the conversation around safeguarding', according to Judge Peter Rook KC's judgment.
It was argued the public still does not have access to the 'real details', citing that previous decisions around parole and recall have been made in private and a public hearing would 'provide crucial context to a case that remains deeply significant to the public'.
A lawyer for Connelly argued against the hearing being made public, saying it poses a risk to her safety and that there is a 'high risk' her identity will be compromised as 'threats to her safety are real and current'.
The legal representative also said Connelly has suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, and that a public hearing will 'exacerbate' these issues and have a 'significant and detrimental effect' on her evidence at the parole hearing.
But Judge Rook, on behalf of the chair of the Parole Board, said the lawyer acknowledged Connelly 'recovers well from these events'.
According to his judgment, Connelly experienced 'offence-related bullying and aggression' after her recall to prison which 'led to a decline in her mental health' but the judge said she reportedly responded well, without resorting to violence, and has now 'stabilised'.
Granting the application for October's hearing to be held in public, the judge said: 'There can be no doubt that there is a substantial public interest in this case.
'There is a strong public interest in the extent that Ms Connelly currently presents a risk and, if so, what measures are proposed in order to manage it.'
He added that a public hearing could 'reassure' the public of the 'thoroughness' of the Parole Board's risk assessment and the probation resources which would be supervising her in the event of her release.
'This may go some way to address legitimate public concern about Ms Connelly,' judge Rook said.
Permission for Connelly to leave prison in 2022 came despite the Parole Board panel highlighting concerns over her ability to manipulate and deceive, and hearing evidence of how she had become embroiled in prison romances and traded secret love letters with an inmate.
Then-justice secretary Dominic Raab appealed against the decision, but a judge rejected his bid to keep her behind bars. Condemning the move, Mr Raab said at the time this was proof the parole system needs a 'fundamental overhaul'.
When Connolly was first released, she was made subject to 20 licence conditions, including having to wear an electronic tag and disclose all her relationships, having her internet use monitored or obeying curfew.
She was also banned from going to certain places to 'avoid contact with victims and to protect children'.
The Parole Board said that she had been cleared due to a low risk of reoffending and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.
It will now be a matter for the Board to decide if the latest breach of her conditions was so serious that she should not be released.
A Parole Board spokesman said back in April: 'It's been directed to an oral hearing now but no hearing date has been set yet.'
Baby Peter's family had a violent history, with a report in the aftermath of the toddler's death concluding there were 'striking similarities' in 'patterns of care and abuse experience by Tracey Connelly' and those endured by the toddler.