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baby p‘s mother told a parole hearing that she was a “Bad mother” to her children.and that they “deserved much better than me”.
Tracy Connelly, now in her forties, was jailed in 2009 for attempting or allowing the murder of her 17-month-old son Peter. LondonOn 3 August 2007.
Making her first public statement after her conviction, she repeatedly told the panel that she had been “selfish” and that she had Ignored warning signs About her ex-boyfriend, Steven Barker, because she wanted her “Prince Charming”.
Barker and his brother, Jason Owen, were also convicted of the same crime And Peter was put in prison for his mistreatment and death.
Conley said that “deep down” she knew that Barker was abusing her son, but was “so busy trying to prove all the professionals wrong that I ignored my conscience”.
The case attracted widespread attention and led to sweeping changes in social servicesIt was accompanied by three investigations and a nationwide review to assess how authorities handle the protection of vulnerable children.
publicly known baby pDespite 60 visits to social workers, police officers and health professionals over eight months, Peter suffered more than 50 injuries, including a broken back and ribs.
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 antidepressants, I wasn’t well. That doesn’t justify or excuse any of my behavior, I just wasn’t emotionally available to be the mother that my children deserved.”
She openly admitted to slapping her children, and said: “I used to do it if they misbehaved. The reality is it happened more when I wasn’t dealing with it. There’s no point in saying they were naughty so I slapped them; it was easier for me to slap them rather than deal with it and try to explain like a proper mother.”
Connelly told the hearing that her childhood had been “tortured”, and said of her parenting: “I failed to protect them, I put my own needs first. I took out 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, as far as keeping me as a mother, they have endured the same tortures that I have gone through. While I wanted to be a mother who broke this cycle, I was a mother who perpetuated this cycle.”
He added, “They were trapped in an even worse situation, which resulted in the death of my son.”
she is facing him first open parole hearingafter being recalled prison For developing an intimate relationship with a man and failing to disclose it to those who supervise him.
Connelly was first released in 2013, after serving a minimum five-year sentence of indeterminate protection for public protection (IPP) after pleading guilty to causing or allowing the death of her son.
She was recalled in 2015 after developing “intimate personal relationships through the internet” and instigating another resident to “engage in inappropriate behaviour” at her residence.
Now she’s forty, she’s gone prison After in July 2022 parole board She ruled she was suitable for release in March that year – having rejected three previous bids in 2015, 2017 and 2019.
It came as the panel highlighted concerns over Connelly’s ability to manipulate and deceive, and heard evidence of how she had become embroiled in a prison romance and traded secret love letters with an inmate.
She was recalled again in August 2024 after failing to disclose another intimate relationship with a man she met online, and that she had deleted content from her phone to avoid being identified.
Parole hearings are normally held in private, but a judge approved Connelly’s application for the review to be heard in public, concluding that it was a “landmark case” as “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.
She cried: “I lied again, there weren’t enough good excuses. There was a whole list of fears of judgement, of being missed, of rejection if I told him who I was. Any man in his right mind would run a mile.”
She added, “I was like, ‘What if I tell him who I am, how can a normal person look at me again?’ I have to live with it and I hate my past. How can I get anyone else to agree with this?”
Her prison offender manager (POM) said she recommended re-release in line with the management plan, stating that she was “more likely” to disclose future relationships as a result of therapy programs undertaken in custody.
Asked about the possibility of entering another “unhealthy relationship”, he responded: “It’s a difficult relationship. Based on my discussions with Tracy, I think she has an awareness of what an unhealthy relationship is and the warning signs of what it could be.”
When psychologist panel member Fiona Ainsworth was asked whether Connelly had “made any progress in understanding why she was falling into the same patterns of behaviour,” her POM said the relationship “made her feel good about herself”.
She also expressed concern that if she disclosed her relationship, parole officers might insist that her convictions be disclosed to her new partner, leading to fear of “rejection”.
Asked if she considered herself a danger to children, Conley said: “The children are in my care? Yes.
“Considering how bad I was at it, I always had to accept that there was always a risk if I was left to care for children, which I could never see happening. Am I a danger to children on the street? No.”
The panel also heard that he was subjected to abuse and threats in prison, but that he did not retaliate during his last year in prison.
Statements from Peter’s family members were not read aloud, but panel chair Sally Albury said: “We found these statements extremely moving. There is no doubt that Peter’s death has caused lifelong harm to those who loved him and to the victims of Ms Connelly’s abuse.”
The public parole hearing will continue Thursday.