Attorney-General moves to have 'lenient' Baby P sentences increased

The Attorney-General moved today to have the sentences in the Baby P case increased on the grounds that they were unduly lenient.

Baroness Scotland of Asthal, QC, the Attorney-General, intervened after receiving complaints from members of the public within hours of the sentencing being announced at the Old Bailey last week.

The mother of Baby P, who can now be named as Peter, was given an indeterminate sentence with a minimum term of five years to be served before she can be considered for release. However, she will be able to apply for parole in just over three years because of time already spent in custody.

Her boyfriend was given ten years and Jason Owen, the lodger, an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum term of three years.

Peter was 17 months- old when he was found dead in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007 having suffered a broken back and fractured ribs.

He had more than 50 injuries despite having been on the at-risk register and visited 60 times in eight months by social workers, doctors and police.

Today the Attorney-General started a process that could lead to the sentences being increased by judges at the Appeal Court.

In a statement, she said: “We have called for the papers in this case since the Attorney-General has the power to refer certain sentences to the Court of Appeal for review if, after looking at all the facts, she thinks the sentence was unduly lenient. Within this power, the Attorney-General can look at minimum tariffs imposed on life and indeterminate sentence prison.”

The statement added: “However, it is important to understand that such prisoners are not released automatically after the minimum term has been served — they are only released when the independent Parole Board is satisfied that their continued detention is no longer necessary to protect the public."

Whitehall sources said that Baroness Scotland would review the whole case and the three sentences given at the Old Bailey.

The minimum terms to be served under the sentences given by Judge Stephen Kramer, QC, were criticised by the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.

Peter’s mother was described as manipulative, self-centred and calculating by Judge Kramer as he imposed the unlimited sentence. He told her that she would be released only when the Parole Board deemed that she was no longer a risk to the public and in particular to children.

Her former boyfriend was given life imprisonment after he was found guilty of raping a two-year-old girl and a concurrent sentence of 12 years for causing or allowing Peter’s death.

Neither he nor Peter’s mother can be named for legal reasons.

SIf the board refuses to release Peter’s mother, she will remain in prison with reviews on whether she can be freed taking place every two years.

Anyone who is released from an indeterminate sentence for public protection is put under supervision by the probation service for a further ten years. At the end of that period they can apply to the board for the supervision to be lifted.

Source:The times