‘I was a bad parent’: Baby P’s mother says nothing ‘justifies or excuses’ her abusive behaviour
Baby P’s mother told her parole hearing that she was a “bad mother” to her children and that they “deserved so much better than me.”
Tracey Connelly, now in her 40s, was jailed 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.
In her first public statement since her conviction, the woman repeatedly told the panel she was “selfish” and ignored warning signs about her ex-boyfriend Steven Barker and wanted a “prince charming”.
Barker and his brother Jason Owen were also convicted of the same crime and imprisoned for the mistreatment and death of Peter.
The case attracted widespread attention and led to an overhaul of social services, with three investigations and a nationwide review assessing how authorities handled the protection of vulnerable children.
Peter, popularly known as Baby P, suffered more than 50 injuries, including fractures to his back and ribs, despite being visited 60 times by social workers, police officers and healthcare professionals over eight months.
When asked about her approach to parenting, she said: “I was going through a very emotional time, that’s not an excuse, I wasn’t taking my anti-depressants, I wasn’t well. This doesn’t justify or excuse any of my behavior, I wasn’t emotionally ready to be the mother my children deserved.”
She openly admitted to spanking her children, saying: “I would do it if they misbehaved. The truth is, it only happened when I couldn’t cope. There was no point in trying to tell them they were naughty, so I slapped them, it was easier for me to spank them rather than deal with them and try to explain it like a decent mother would.”
Connelly, who told the hearing that her childhood was “torture”, said the following about her own parenting: “I couldn’t protect them, I put my own needs first. I put all my anger at the world on my older children, I didn’t give them what they needed, and they deserved much better than me.”
“Unfortunately, because they became mothers to me, they went through the same torture that I went through. I would have loved to be a mother who broke the cycle, but I was a mother who continued the cycle.”
She faces her first public parole hearing after being summoned to prison for developing an intimate relationship with a man and failing to disclose it to her supervisors.
Connelly was first released in 2013 after serving the minimum five years of an indefinite prison sentence (IPP) for public protection, after pleading guilty to causing or allowing the death of his son.
He was recalled in 2015 after developing “intimate personal relationships via the internet” and encouraging another resident to “engage in inappropriate behavior” at his accommodation.
The woman, now in her 40s, left prison in July 2022 after the Parole Board ruled she was eligible for release in March that year after rejecting three previous offers in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
This was despite the panel highlighting concerns about Connelly’s ability to manipulate and deceive and hearing evidence of how he was involved in prison romances and exchanged secret love letters with a prisoner.
She was recalled again in August 2024 after failing to disclose another intimate relationship with a man she met online and deleting material from her phone to avoid detection.
Parole hearings are usually held in secret but a judge approved applications for Connelly’s review to be heard publicly, concluding it was a “landmark case” in “one of the most high-profile and devastating child protection failures in UK history”.
When asked about this 2024 relationship, she admitted that she lied about going to a hotel with the man and inviting him to her home address.
Through tears she said: “I lied again, I don’t have good enough excuses. There was a whole list of fears of being judged, called back and rejected if I told him who I was. Anyone in their right mind would run a mile.”
He added: “‘What if I tell him who I am, how can a normal person look at me again after telling me that?’ I thought. I have to live with it and I hate my past, how can I ask someone else to accept that?”
The prison offender manager (POM) said he was “more likely” to disclose future relationships as a result of therapy programs carried out in custody and recommended he be re-released in line with a management plan.
When asked about the possibility of getting into another “unhealthy relationship,” he replied: “It’s a difficult relationship. Based on my conversations with Tracey, I think it’s her awareness of an unhealthy relationship and the warning signs of what it might be.”
When psychologist panel member Fiona Ainsworth asked whether Connelly had made any progress in “understanding why he falls into the same patterns of behaviour”, the POM said the relationship “made him feel good”.
He had also raised concerns that if he disclosed his relationship, probation officers might insist that his convictions be disclosed to his new partner, leading to fears of “rejection”.
Asked if he perceived himself to be a risk to children, Connelly said: “Are the children in my care? Yes.
“Given how bad I am at this job, I have to accept that there will always be a risk if I’m left to care for children, which I can’t see ever happening. Do I pose a risk to children walking down the street? No.”
The panel also heard that he had been subjected to harassment and threats in prison but had not retaliated during his final year in prison.
Statements from Peter’s family members were not read aloud but panel chair Sally Allbeury said: “We found these statements extremely moving. There is no doubt that Peter’s death has caused lifelong damage to those who loved him and, by extension, to the victims of Ms Connelly’s insult.”
