Baby P’s mother will be forced to ‘finally give answers’ about his brutal death

The mother of Baby P, the toddler who died after horrific abuse, will finally be forced to answer for his death as she makes a new bid for freedom.

Tracey Connelly, 44, faces a public parole hearing this month after being recalled to prison last year for breaching her license conditions.

She has always refused to answer questions about the death of her 17-month-old son Peter, even refusing to testify at her trial at the Old Bailey.

But she is expected to be questioned by a panel of experts over two days when her parole hearing takes place on October 22 and 23.

A source said The mirror: ‘Connelly has always concealed the truth about her role and the circumstances surrounding Peter’s death. She has never been held accountable and has openly questioned why she allowed this to happen.

“But the parole board will judge Peter’s death and she will have nowhere to hide.

“She’s finally going to have to give some answers.”

Connelly was convicted in 2009 of causing or allowing Peter’s death at their home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3, 2007.

The Parole Board received two requests for the review to take place in public, describing Connelly’s “landmark case” as “one of the most high-profile and devastating child protection failures in British history” that “permanently changed the conversation around safeguarding”, according to the judgment by Judge Peter Rook KC.

It was argued that the public still does not have access to the “real details”, citing that previous parole and recall decisions have been made in private and that a public hearing would provide “critical context for a matter that remains of great importance to the public”.

An attorney for Connelly opposed the hearing being made public, saying it poses a risk to her safety and that there is a “substantial risk” that her identity will be compromised as “threats to her safety are real and present.”

The legal representative also said Connelly suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), anxiety and depression, and that a public hearing will “exacerbate” these problems and have a “significant and detrimental effect” on her evidence at the parole hearing.

But Judge Rook, speaking on behalf of the chairman of the Parole Board, said the lawyer acknowledged Connelly was “recovering well from these events.”

His judgment said Connelly suffered from “crime-related bullying and aggression” following 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 been “stabilized”.

The judge granted the request to hold the October hearing in public, saying, “There can be no doubt that there is a substantial public interest in this matter.”

‘There is a strong public interest in the extent to which Ms Connelly currently poses a risk and, if so, what measures are proposed to manage this.’

He added that a public hearing could “assure” the public of the “thoroughness” of the Parole Board’s risk assessment and the parole resources that would monitor her in the event of her release.

“This may go some way to addressing legitimate public concerns about Ms. Connelly,” Judge Rook said.

Connelly left prison in July 2022 after the Parole Board ruled she was suitable for release in March of that year – after rejecting three previous bids in 2015, 2017 and 2019 – after hearing she was “a low risk of committing another crime” and that probation and prison officials supported the plan.

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

Then-Justice Secretary Dominic Raab appealed the decision, but a judge rejected his bid to keep her behind bars.

Mr Raab condemned the move, saying at the time that it was evidence that the parole system needs a ‘fundamental overhaul’.

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

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