Couple behind Baby P death named

The London couple responsible for the death of 17-month-old Baby Peter from more than 50 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken back, have been named after a court anonymity ordered expired. They are Tracey Connelly, 28, the baby's mother, and her partner Steven Barker, 33.

Connelly was jailed for five years and Barker for 12 when they were convicted in May of allowing the death of a child.

Connelly's brother, Jason Owen, 37, who was staying with the couple at their flat in Penshurst Road, Haringey during the period the baby was abused and eventually died, was jailed for three years. His name was also released yesterday.

The judge had ordered that none of the defendants could be named because Peter had four siblings, all of whom needed to be re-homed. Now that the children are being cared for, there is no need for anonymity.

Baby Peter - who was initially identified by the media only as Baby P - was found dead on August 3, 2007, having swallowed his own tooth as a result of a fatal blow the previous night. Connelly, Barker and Owen all denied that they had been involved in the abuse.

It has also been revealed that in 1995 Barker and Owen were charged with assaulting their 82-year-old grandmother, Hilda Barker, in an attempt to make her change her will. The case was dropped when Mrs Barker died before giving evidence. Before her death, she told police the two brothers had locked her in a wardrobe.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING
Carol Midgeley, the Times: "We have a moral obligation to examine not only how he [Baby Peter] died, but also how he and his 'carers' lived. The sadistic end result for Baby P is mercifully rare but the foetid landscape in which he lived is more common. It might be uncomfortable, but the worst thing we can do for these children is to shudder and look away."

Sandra Laville, the Guardian: "Connelly has said that her experience with social services as a girl made her 'terrified of social workers'. But the police believe her experiences within the care system also made her knowledgeable about ways to dupe the authorities."

Editorial, Daily Mail: "How did social workers, doctors and police fail to spot during their countless visits to Baby Peter's disgusting council house that sadistic neo-Nazi Barker and his brother Jason Owen - a former crack addict and convicted arsonist - had moved into the property, and were meting out vicious beatings to the child?" ·