Tracey Connelly, the mother of Baby P, is preparing a fresh bid for freedom and is set to give evidence at her own parole hearing. The 38-year-old, who allowed her 17-month-old son Peter to be tortured to death in 2007, is making another attempt to be released from prison after two previous bids were rejected.
Connelly is likely to be granted legal aid to be represented at the hearing, where she will try to convince the Parole Board that it is safe to release her. Prison sources suggest she has started a relationship with an old friend, an insurance salesman named Paul, and believes this could support her application. She is expected to say they will set up home together.
A Parole Board spokesman confirmed that an oral hearing has been directed for Connelly's parole review, though no date has been set. Experts will decide whether she is still a danger to the public. Connelly was recalled to jail in 2015 for selling indecent photos of herself online, 18 months after being released on licence in 2013. She was initially jailed in 2009 for causing or allowing Peter's death.
In a letter from prison earlier this year, Connelly dismissed her involvement in her son's death and detailed her friendship with mass murderer Rose West. She claimed West was teaching her to cook and that they played Scrabble. Connelly also expressed belief in her own innocence, despite hiding the torture of Peter from social workers.
