Baby P: Steven Barker has denied parole for the fourth time in five years

Peter Connelly’s evil stepfather has been denied parole for the fourth time since 2017.

Steven Barker has been in prison for 13 years for molesting the toddler publicly known as Baby P and is also serving a life sentence for raping a two-year-old girl.

He made another attempt to secure an early release, but after hearing from his parole officer and psychologists, the panel still believed Barker was a public threat.

He was heard refusing to take part in “crime-focused interventions” and was previously found to have failed to confront his heinous crimes.

A spokesman for the parole board said: “Protecting the public is our top priority.”

Barker will be eligible for his fifth parole “in due course.”

He is the only one of three people still serving his sentence after being found guilty by a jury of causing or allowing baby P’s death.

The child’s mother, Tracey Connelly, 39, was sentenced to a minimum of five years in prison at the Old Bailey in 2009.

She was released from license in 2013, but was recalled to prison in 2015 for violating her probation terms.

The Department of Justice (MOD) confirmed that she had been released in July 2022, following the Parole Board’s approval in March 2022.

Like Barker, multiple parole board appeals were denied in 2015, 2017 and 2019.

Jason Owen, Barker’s brother, was jailed in 2009 after serving a six-year sentence but was freed in 2011, only to be jailed again in 2013 for a parole violation.

He has since been released from prison and given a new identity to protect him from vigilantism.

Baby P suffered more than 50 injuries despite being on the Haringey Borough Council risk register and visiting the hospital on several occasions.

In the eight months before his death in August 2007, he received 60 visits from social workers, police officers and health professionals.

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