The NSPCC has slammed the minimum sentences imposed on the lodger living in Baby Peter’s house and his mother as “disappointing”.

The Baby P’s mother was today jailed indefinitely for causing or allowing the toddler’s death. Her lodger, Jason Owens, was also jailed indefinitely. Her boyfriend was jailed for 12 years.

Trio could be freed “in a few years”

Responding, the NSPCC said the minimum sentences meant that the trio could be free in “a few short years” and would still be young enough to start new lives and families when released.

NSPCC chief executive Andrew Flanagan said: “We are disappointed that the minimum tariff was so low. It raises the question of how bad the abuse has to be before offenders get a longer minimum time in prison.

“Two of his abusers could walk free at a time when Peter should be a schoolboy with a new world in front of him. Despicable cruelty has denied him that opportunity.”

Flanagan called for the perpetrators to be put under “stringent monitoring” so they could never harm another child.

Parole board to decide

Sentencing the three today, the judge said the mother’s boyfriend – baby P’s stepfather – would not automatically be released at the end of his minimum term and it would be for a parole board to decide when he was no longer a danger. He was also put on the sex offenders register and disqualified from working with children.

Judge Kramer said that the mother and her lodger Jason Owen would only be released when the parole board determined they were no longer risks to children.

The judge told Owen: “What happened to Peter in the time that you were there happened in an atmosphere that allowed a complete lack of care to be ingrained with a sickening and descending loss of personal responsibility.

“You were more concerned about your own situation and about the horror of what was happening to Peter being discovered than taking steps to protect him.”

Reaction

Baby Peter’s mother appeared to mouth the word “No”  today when her boyfriend was given a life sentence.

After she was sentenced and taken to the dock door, a women from a pressure group against child abuse called out: “F****** tramp”.

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