Baby P’s mother Tracey Connelly was hauled back to prison last year after secretly dating a man she met online, it has been revealed as she makes a fresh bid for freedom.
Connelly, now 44, was jailed at the Old Bailey in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter at their home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3 2007.
She was set from in 2013 but breached her licence with a secret relationship, and spent another seven years behind bars.
In 2022, despite fears that Connelly remains manipulative and deceitful, she was set free again. But it has now been revealed she was brought back to prison in 2024 because of a second secret online relationship.
Her son Peter, who was known publicly as Baby P before his identity was fully revealed, died after suffering a horrifying catalogue of more than 50 injuries at home, including a broken back, fractured ribs, and bruising across his whole body.
The young boy had been on the at-risk register and received 60 visits from social workers, police officers and health professionals over eight months. But a host of failings meant the grave risks he faced were not identified.
Connelly had concealed from social services that her boyfriend, Steven Barker, and his brother, Jason Owen, had moved into her home. All three were convicted of causing or allowing Peter’s death, though it has never been revealed who actually inflicted the injuries.
At the start of a Parole Board hearing on Wednesday to consider Connelly being set free from prison, details emerged for the first time of the reason she was recalled to jail in August last year.
Connelly was originally sentenced to indefinite imprisonment for public protection with a minimum term of five years.
She was first released in October 2013, around 13 months after the minimum tariff expired. But her licence was revoked on February 11 2015 after it was discovered Connelly had been “secretly developing intimate personal relationships via the internet and incited another resident in her accommodation to engage in inappropriate behaviour”, said the Parole Board hearing chair Sally Allbeury.
After four further reviews, Connelly secured her freedom again in March 2022, after the Parole Board heard about her work with a forensic psychologist, as well as three years spent on a unit for high-risk offenders with severe personality disorders.
That release was approved despite Connelly secretly “developing an intimate relationship with another prisoner” during her second spell in prison.
After two years in the community, Connelly was recalled to prison again in August last year after “the development of an intimate relationship with a man (she) met online which she did not disclose to professionals involved in her supervision”.
At the start of the Parole hearing, Ms Allbeury revealed that the panel has privately heard statements from members of Peter’s family “about the ongoing impact of Peter’s death, and their concerns about Ms Connelly’s potential release, including requests for certain conditions in place to protect them.
“We found these statements extremely moving, there can be no doubt Peter’s death caused life-long harm to those who loved him, and as such they are too victims of Ms Connelly’s offending”, she said.
The hearing was told Connelly works in prison as an orderly on the ‘care and separation unit’, she has no friends in the outside world apart from an ex-prisoner she met in jail who she talks to on the phone, and she suffers daily bouts for verbal abuse from fellow inmates.
“Unfortunately it does continue, particularly when Tracey is going to work in the morning”, her prison offender manager told the hearing.
“There has never been any incidents of retaliation, and she has managed that appropriately, seeking support from staff.”
The offender manager told the hearing Connelly takes “full responsibility” for her recalls to prison, and says she did not reveal her relationships out of “fear of being judged because of the status of the relationship”.
She assessed that Connelly knew she had crossed a line that would eventually lead to her being recalled to prison, and decided she “may as well enjoy it while it lasts”.
Connelly says she is “aware of red flags” in relationships, and the offender manager said future risks if Connelly is released would come “if she engages in unhealthy relationships and doesn’t disclose those, and children or someone vulnerable involved in that scenario, if she prioritises her own needs and no consider the needs of children and vulnerable people.”
The offender manager told the hearing she supports the idea of Connelly being released again.
“I consider it would be more likely she is going to be open and honest about her situation and the difficulties she is facing”, she said.
Peter Jones, a retired judge sitting on the panel, replied: “That’s what the professionals thought last time.”
Connelly is present at the Parole Board hearing but cannot be seen on screen. Proceedings are being livestreamed from prison to a meeting room in London with members of the media and public present.
Connelly, who has asked to be referred to as “Tracey” during the hearing, is expected to give evidence herself.
