Ah, the power of the
fourth estate: so mighty were the combined forces of the Mirror group and the
Times, along with the BBC, that a High Court judge simply had to reveal the
identities of the mother and stepfather of Baby Peter.
Search as I did for
another more persuasive reason for disclosure, the only one I could find was "public
interest".
But I fear that, in this
case, public interest means interesting to the public.
What purpose was there
to reveal the abusers' identities other than satisfying public and media
bloodlust?
The Guardian reported
this morning that one Facebook site had 68,000 members calling for Baby P's
mother, Tracey Connelly, and step-father, Steven Barker, to be tortured and
hanged.
That number will
surely swell now that their names are in the public domain. They're baying for
blood are the Facebook lynch mob.
But there are three
other issues to be considered now that the High Court has told all.
First, what happens
when Connelly and Barker are released? They will surely need protection at the taxpayer's expense -
hardly a cheap option and a process fraught with the complications of identity
change.
Second, by naming the
pair it may be easy for members of the public to identify Connelly's other
children, an outcome that questions the effectiveness of the protection of anonymity accorded to minors under the law.
Finally, in 1995 Barker was charged with assaulting his 82-year-old grandmother but the woman died
before the trial could be held. Barker was accused with his brother, who became Connelly's
lodger, Jason Owen, who was also convicted of causing Baby Peter's death.
That raises the
question of the police database. Surely the pair would have been flagged on it even if the case had not gone to court and perhaps the alarm bells should have rung earlier than they did, allowing agencies to draw together possible leads.
We await to see how
the media, having won its legal battle, can take child protection further. Let us
hope it is constructive and does not descend into another round of social worker bashing.
Agree with all of this. The media is irresponsible.