Baby P’s mother recalled to prison for second time
The mother of Baby P, the child tortured to death in 2007, has been recalled to prison after breaching her licence conditions.
Tracey Connelly was given a life sentence with a minimum of five years in 2009 after covering up her son’s barbaric injuries and letting him die in her care at home in Tottenham, north London, on August 3 2007.
She was released on licence in 2013 but recalled to prison in 2015 after selling nude photos online. Connelly, 42, has now been recalled to jail a second time after an unspecified breach of the conditions of her parole that was granted in 2022.
A HM Prison and Probation Service spokesman said: “Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and we do not hesitate to recall them to prison if they break the rules.”
It is understood that Connelly has not committed a new offence but has breached her licensing conditions which restrict where she can go, who she can meet and whom she can contact.
Connelly was jailed in 2009 after admitting to causing or allowing the death of her son Peter at their home. Known initially only as Baby P, the 17-month-old suffered over 50 injuries, including a broken back.
After being released in 2013, she was recalled to prison two years later after cashing in on her notoriety by selling naked photos of herself online to male fans. Connelly was returned to jail for breaching the conditions of her parole that banned her from “developing intimate personal relationships” on the internet.
She made three further attempts with the Parole Board to be released in 2015, 2017 and 2019 but was blocked. Dominic Raab, then justice secretary, who had asked the Parole Board to reconsider its decision to free her for a second time, described Connelly as “pure evil”.
She was released again in July 2022 and moved from HM Prison Low Newton in County Durham to a bail hostel in a secret location to begin her life anew.
She was reported to have befriended child killer Helen Cauldwell, who throttled her own daughter to death with a Piglet toy, at the halfway house in the north of England.
Steven Barker, Connelly’s lover, was jailed in 2009 for a minimum of 32 years for torturing the 17-month-old to death while his brother, Jason Owen, received a six-year jail sentence for allowing the toddler to die.