Baby P's mum faces delay to freedom bid as risk to public scrutinised

Evil Tracey Connelly's freedom bid has been put on hold as experts gather more evidence about the risk she poses to the public. Connelly - the mum of Baby P - appeared before a Parole Board panel last week to give her first public account of Peter's death , more than 18 years after he died from a catalogue of harrowing injuries. The 44-year-old admitted for the first time she had been a "bad mother" and said she refused to accept her sadistic lover Steven Barker was abusing little Peter before he died in his blood-splattered cot in 2007. Revealing her "selfishness" led to the 17-month-old's death, she said she was blinded by love, telling prison experts she "wanted a Prince Charming" . She had hoped to learn if she would be released or moved to an open prison within 14 days - but the Parole Board has now "directed further information" and adjourned the hearing until next year in March. A spokesman said: "No decision can be made in this case until the panel has the directed information, and, in this instance, there is work needed by expert witnesses to develop the necessary materials to present to the panel." Last week Connelly refused to appear on camera as she appeared before a two-day parole hearing from prison, where she admitted that she still posed a risk to children in her care. She told the hearing: "I was a bad mother. I failed to protect them. I put my needs first. I took all my anger out at the world on my children. I didn't give them what they needed and they deserved better than me." Connelly was jailed for at least five years in 2009 for causing or allowing Peter's death in Tottenham, north London, while Barker was locked up for a minimum of 12 years for torturing the tragic tot. Connelly has never publicly given details about her son's death, even refusing to give evidence at her trial. But as she made a fresh bid for freedom after twice being recalled to prison for breaching her licence, details of her offending were read to a Parole Board panel. She was said to have "felt anger towards her children, believing they were interfering in her relationship with her partner and they were a hindrance". Connelly finally admitted she refused to believe that little Peter was being abused by Barker. She told the hearing: "There was a lot more that I probably could have done to protect my children. If I had told the professionals that this man was living with me and explained that we were more than he was just visiting, there are 101 things I could have done. "I could have done more. I was in my own bubble where I wanted my Prince Charming and unfortunately my children paid for that." She added: "I was selfish. I wanted my happy ever after." When she was jailed, it was claimed Peter was left in his pushchair with chocolate spread over his face to cover up the bruises on his face. But Connelly denied that she had covered Peter's face in chocolate to hide his injuries. She said: "There was a suggestion where I covered [Peter's] face in chocolate. But I washed it off in front of a social worker and there were no bruises on his face." Referring to Barker added: "I knew deep down what was happening. I challenged him [Barker} once and he made me feel so small I didn't challenge him again. I didn't believe that I could be living with a man who was capable of this, rather than the truth. I wanted to prove everyone wrong." She added: "I kept [Barker] a secret, I was arguing that this couldn't happen." She openly admitted to slapping her children, and said: “I used to do it if they misbehaved. The reality is that it was more when I wasn’t coping. "There’s no point trying to say they were naughty so I slapped them, it was easier for me to slap them rather than deal with it and try to explain like a proper mother would have done.” Connelly was released from prison in 2013 but recalled just two years later after selling nude pictures of herself online. Despite a backlash, Connelly was freed again in 2022 and she was made subject to 20 licence conditions. But last week it emerged she was recalled in August last year after striking up a secret 12-month relationship online with a man in which they exchanged sexually explicit messages. She said she hid her dark past from him before meeting him for sex, cinema and food. When the fling was exposed, she was thrown back in jail for failing to inform probation services about the relationship. Breaking down in tears, she said: "I hate my past, I have to live with it. How can I ask anyone to be OK with that?" She added: "There was a fear of rejection, if I told him who I was, anyone in their right mind would run a mile." She admitted she was "obsessed with sex", had an interest in BDSM fetishes and visited a sex club before her recall last year. She told panel members: "The sex is usually my way of dealing with things." Connelly revealed that after she was first released from prison in 2013, she dyed her hair blonde but it "looked like two marigolds on her head". In an effort to correct it, she used a red dye but her hair turned a shocking pink. She told the panel: "I was accused of doing it for notoriety but it was not for that reason." Connelly was also asked about her childhood during the hearing, to which she simply replied it was "torture". Admitting she was an occasional cannabis smoker, she said: "It was not a life experience I would wish on anyone." The hearing was told Connelly - who works as an orderly on the care and supervision unit in jail - is subject to "abuse and threats" in prison as she makes her way to work every day. One one occasion an inmate spat at her but she has never been attacked, it was said. Chair of the Parole Board panel Sally Allbeury revealed that baby Peter's family had written "extremely moving" statements. She said: "There can be no doubt that Peter's death has caused life-long harm to those who loved him and, as such, they too are victims of Ms Connelly's offending." Connelly told the panel she would still pose a risk to children in her care. Asked if she perceives herself as being a risk to children, Connelly said: "Children in my care? Yes. "Given how bad I was at it, I have to always accept that there is always a risk if I am left looking after children, which I can't see ever being the case. Am I a risk to children walking down the street? No." Connelly's two-day parole hearing was held in public after the Parole Board deemed it was in the public interest. A decision on her future will be made next year.