Baby Peter’s mother and step-father named

By Mithran Samuel on August 11, 2009 in Child safeguarding

Baby Peter’s mother and step-father were named last night as Tracey Connelly and Steven Barker, after an order protecting their identities expired.

Connelly and Barker, along with Jason Owen, who has been identified as Barker’s brother, were responsible for causing or allowing the death of the 17-month-old – who has been named as Peter Connelly – in August 2007.

The orders banning the identification of Connelly and Barker, as well as Owen’s relationship with Barker, were designed to protect Peter’s four siblings. Though Haringey Council had reportedly sought to have the ban maintained, family court judge Mr Justice Coleridge ruled earlier this year that the order should be lifted in the public interest.

Barker, 33, was also convicted of raping a two-year-old girl, who, like Peter, was also on Haringey Council’s child protection register, and was jailed for life, including a minimum term of 12 years, in May this year.

Connelly, 28, was given an indefinite sentence and told she would serve a minimum of five years, while Owen, who is 37, must spend at least three years in jail, having also received an indefinite term.