The dad of Baby P, who was tortured to death in 2007, says he is ‘happy’ the toddler’s mum has been recalled to prison two years after she was freed.
Tracey Connelly, 42, was jailed in 2009 for causing or allowing the death of her 17-month-old son Peter, who suffered horrific injuries while in her care at their home in Tottenham, north London.
It is the second time she has been recalled, having initially been freed and then sent back to prison a decade ago.
Baby P’s dad said of the news: ‘I was obviously happy that she had gone back to prison. To be honest, I just don’t care about her; when I hear that something has happened I just shrug. She can go to hell for what she did so far as I am concerned. She is nothing to do with me now.’
A Prison and Probation Service spokeswoman said on Tuesday: ‘Offenders released on licence are subject to strict conditions and we do not hesitate to recall them to prison if they break the rules.’
Speaking to the Mirror, Baby P’s dad said he was told of the recall but not the reason why.
But he suggested ‘it must be pretty serious’.
The 60-year-old is currently in hospital due to long-term health issues, the newspaper reports.
He said he still visits Peter’s grave ‘whenever I can, to remember him’ and described how the grief of losing him in such a horrific way ‘will never go away’, adding: ‘That’s why I can never forgive her, and I never will.’
Connelly had previously been released on licence in 2013 but recalled to prison in 2015 for breaching her parole conditions.
In the latest review, the Parole Board decided Connelly was suitable for release – having rejected three previous bids in 2015, 2017 and 2019 – after hearing she was considered to be at ‘low risk of committing a further offence’ and that probation officers and prison officials supported the plan.
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This was despite the panel highlighting concerns over Connelly’s ability to manipulate and deceive, and hearing evidence of how she had become embroiled in prison romances and traded secret love letters with an inmate.
She was reported to have struck up a friendship with fellow child killer Helen Cauldwell, who throttled her own daughter with a Piglet toy.
After her latest release, Connelly had been subject to restrictions on her movements, activities and who she contacted, as well as 20 extra licence conditions.
They included living at a specified address as well as being supervised by probation, wearing an electronic tag, adhering to a curfew and having to disclose her relationships.
Her use of the internet and a phone was also monitored, and she was also told she could not go to certain places to ‘avoid contact with victims and to protect children’.
Steven Barker, Connelly’s lover, was jailed in 2009 for at least 32 years for torturing Peter to death while his brother, Jason Owen, was given a six-year jail sentence for allowing the toddler to die.
Last year, two High Court judges ruled that a policy – introduced in the wake of the decision to free Connelly – forbidding prison and probation staff from recommending whether prisoners were suitable for release to the Parole Board was unlawful and may have led to people being wrongly freed.
Connelly will have to face another parole panel at a later date in order to be considered again for re-release.
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