Baby P's mother Tracey Connelly tells parole board she allowed partner to abuse her son because she wanted her 'Prince Charming'

Baby P's mother has told the parole board she allowed her partner to abuse her son because she wanted her "Prince Charming".

It is the first time Tracey Connelly, 44, has spoken publicly about her 17-month-old son Peter's death at their home in Tottenham, north London, on 3 August 2007 since she was jailed in 2009.

Peter, who suffered more than 50 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken back, was known as Baby P during his mother's Old Bailey trial, where she initially denied wrongdoing, alongside her boyfriend, Steven Barker, and his brother.

The case sparked outrage as the child was on the at-risk register and received 60 visits from social workers, police and health professionals over eight months.

Connelly was given an indefinite sentence for public protection (IPP) with a minimum term of five years in 2009 after pleading guilty to causing or allowing Peter's death.

She is making her seventh bid to be released from prison - after being twice recalled over having secret relationships with men she met online - which is being live-streamed from her prison to the International Dispute and Resolution Centre, in London.

Risk to children in her care

She admitted she continues to present a risk to any children in her care, saying: "Given how bad I was at it, I have to accept that's always a risk if I'm left looking after children, which I can't see ever being the case.

"Am I a risk to children running down the street? Not at all."

Connelly, who asked to be called Tracey, could not be seen on screen as she told how her own childhood was "torture".

"It was extremely traumatic, things that I went through which's not for public consumption. It was not a life experience I would wish on anyone," she said.

Connelly said her marriage was on "the last legs" when Peter was born and that she would have loved to "have been a mother where I broke the cycle" but perpetuated it.

She admitted "I was a bad mother" who "failed to protect" Peter after moving Barker into their home before having to take her son to hospital with what she was told were "non-accidental injuries".

Connelly said "deep down" she knew Barker was abusing him, but was so busy trying to prove all the professionals wrong that "I ignored my gut".

"There's a lot more I probably could have done," she said.

"If I had told the professionals this man was living with me, if I had explained we were more than he was just visiting, there are 101 different things I could have done.

"I'm ashamed to admit I was in my own head, my own bubble, where I wanted my Prince Charming and unfortunately [Peter] paid for that."

She said her "selfishness" meant Peter was stuck in a "worse situation" which "allowed my son to die".

Sent back to jail over secret flings

The hearing was told she was first released on licence in 2013, but recalled to prison in 2015 for a breach of conditions after "secretly developing intimate personal relationships" online and had "incited" another resident at her accommodation to "engage in inappropriate behaviour".

She told the panel she engaged in sexualised chat and sent intimate photos of herself to a man in another country, who didn't know who she was.

Her applications for release in 2015, 2017 and 2019 were rejected by the board, and while back in custody, she "developed an intimate relationship with another prisoner" which she hid from staff.

She said they would "kiss and cuddle", but it was "more about friendship", and she continued the relationship through "jail mail" when they were separated.

Connelly was freed from jail for a second time in July 2022 after the parole board found she was suitable for release, but again recalled to prison in September last year after breaching her licence conditions.

The parole hearing was told she "developed an intimate relationship with a man" she met online and concealed it from parole officers by deleting material from her phone to avoid being detected.

Connelly is allowed to have relationships but must report them.

She told how she met a man on an app, giving him a fake backstory, and again sent intimate photos before they met, went for food, to the cinema and to a hotel for the weekend, where they had sex twice.

Her voice broke with emotion as she said: "If I had to tell him who I was, anyone in their right mind would run a mile", and "how could I ask anyone to be okay with that?"

Visit to a sex club

Asked if she was "obsessed with sex", Connelly said it was her way of making "a connection, even if it's only temporary sometimes".

She said she was openly bisexual, has an interest in BDSM, and visited a sex club after she was last released from prison.

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Connelly now works on the care and supervision unit as an orderly in prison and is subjected to daily bullying, abuse and threats, including being spat at, her prisoner offender manager (POM) said.

The POM is recommending her re-release, but the application is opposed by Justice Minister David Lammy.

The three panel members, who have seen a 763-page dossier, will decide if she meets the test for release based on an assessment of her "risk to the public" and are expected to make a decision next month.

Statements from members of Peter's family were not read in public, but the panel chair, Sally Allbeury, said they expressed "concerns about her potential release" and wanted "conditions to be put in place to protect them" if she is freed.

"We found these statements extremely moving. There can be no doubt Peter's death has caused life-long harm to those who loved him and as such they are also victims of Ms Connelly's offending," she said.

Connelly's boyfriend, Barker, who Peter called "dad", was jailed for 12 years, and his brother, Jason Owen, was sentenced to six years on appeal after being convicted in relation to Peter's death.

Their trial heard how Peter was subjected to a series of assaults of increasing violence for up to eight months before his death, and Connelly was described by the sentencing judge as "manipulative and self-centred with a controlling side and a temper" who had prioritised her relationship with her partner.

(c) Sky News 2025: Baby P's mother Tracey Connelly tells parole board she allowed p