Final insult: Now public faces paying millions to provide Baby  P's mother with a new identity

By COLIN FERNANDEZ FOR THE DAILY MAIL
Updated: 18:10 EDT, 21 November 2008

Baby P: Society failed to protect the toddler, but his mother is likely to get a new identity at a cost of millions

The taxpayer faces a multimillion-pound bill to give the evil mother of Baby P a new identity when she leaves prison.

Amid the widespread public revulsion at the case, lawyers will use human rights legislation to claim that the 27-year-old's life is at risk.

They are believed to be already drawing up a list of demands to ensure that she receives permanent 'protection' from the public.

It would involve a new home, name and round-the-clock police protection for the woman.

In addition, it is likely that her legal team will request a lifelong court order  -  banning anyone from identifying her or her whereabouts.

Similar orders have been granted for other notorious convicts  -  including the Soham murderer's girlfriend Maxine Carr, child killer Mary Bell and the boys who murdered toddler James Bulger.

The latest move is being planned because of the public outcry over the ordeal of 17-month-old Baby P at the hands of his mother, her boyfriend and lodger.

They are awaiting sentence after being convicted at the Old Bailey of allowing the death of the child whose back was broken during an appalling spell of abuse at a filthy, rat-infested house in Tottenham.

Officially, they cannot be identified because of continuing legal proceedings.

But they have been repeatedly named on the internet in a series of orchestrated attacks on them, as well as a poster campaign on the streets of North London.

One Facebook group, entitled 'Baby P killers should be hanged, drawn and quartered', already has more than 32,000 members.

Enlarge  

Campaigns to identify Baby P's mother - like this poster at a bus stop in Camden, North London - could help lawyers claim threats to her life are genuine

The mother, who has given birth again while in jail, faces a maximum of 14 years when she is sentenced next month for allowing the death of a child.

But as she has already spent time in prison on remand, she could be free in as little as five years.

When her time for release approaches, her solicitors will apply to the High Court to rule that her new identity and whereabouts may not be revealed in the media.

They will have to show explicit, realistic death threats for the application to succeed.

But with the obvious anger in the messages circulating on the internet, this should hardly be a problem.

One said of the convicted three: 'Put them out of their misery. Just kill them, they don't deserve to live. When they get out we will be the ones paying for them, they won't be able to work, they will have new names, protection from the Old Bill, a new place to live, why should they get this?'

Another asked: 'How can anyone do this to anyone, let alone an innocent little child? Hanging them is too easy for them  -  they should be tortured exactly how Baby P was but worse!!'

The basis of the application by Baby P's mother for lifelong anonymity would be Article 2 of the Human Rights Act, the right to life, and Article 8, the right to privacy and family life.

These will have to be balanced against Article 10, the right to free speech and the principle of openness in legal proceedings, said Niri Shan, of Taylor Wessing solicitors.

Enlarge  

A couple pay their respects at Baby P's grave in North London

'There's a distinct possibility her lawyers will make an application for anonymity on
her release and there is a good chance of them getting it if they can show there's a genuine threat to her life, on the basis of how courts have interpreted the law in previous cases.'

Paul Gilbert, of Finers Stephens Innocent, said: 'It is conceivable that we will end up with a situation where, because of things like Facebook, anonymity requests are going to increase because there is such a wealth of evidence justifying a threat to life.'

Gary Slapper, Professor of Law at the Open University, said: 'There is a very clear phenomenon of deeper public revulsion against women who commit crimes against children and the family than against men. 

'There is an ancient idea that the mother is the fount of the family and anything she does against a child is worse than anything done by a man.'

Legal rules mean that the 16 months Baby P's mother has spent on remand will reduce the time she has to spend in jail by 32 months, and she will receive a reduced sentence for pleading guilty to allowing her son's death.

The only person named in the trial is the couple's 36-year-old lodger, Jason Owen, from Bromley, Kent.

He has already had razor blades passed under his Brixton prison cell door  -  with a note saying: 'Do it yourself or we'll do it for you.'

The Ministry of Justice has declined to comment on the case.

Andrew Rosindell, Conservative MP for Romford, said: 'I think the British people will be hugely appalled by any suggestion that those who are guilty of this appalling crime against an innocent child should have huge amounts of public money splashed on them in order to protect them in the long term.

'If anyone is found guilty of such a crime I don't see it as the role of the British taxpayer to fund their anonymous lifestyle for ever. It's almost an open invitation to commit a serious crime and get a new life. I think that's quite an appalling precedent to set.'

Philip Davies, Tory MP for Shipley, said: 'I personally find it rather offensive that the taxpayer may end up picking up a huge bill to protect this woman's human rights, giving the complete disregard she showed for the human rights of her baby.

'I think the case is one of the most harrowing and distressing events, and it would be another kick in the teeth for the decent law-abiding taxpaying public if they have to fund a better lifestyle for her because we are so obsessed with her human rights.'

After the Soham murders of Holly Wells and Jessica Chapman, Maxine Carr was jailed for 42 months for lying to protect her boyfriend, Ian Huntley, and was released in May 2004.

Her barrister argued at the court hearing granting her anonymity: 'There is a real and significant risk of injury  -  or worse, killing  -  if the injunction is not granted.

'There is compelling evidence of danger to her life and limb if anonymity is not maintained. That is the unanimous view of the police and Probation Service.'

Since Carr's release she has had to move at least 11 times  -  with the cost to the public purse running into millions.

Others in a similar position were children when they committed their crimes, such as Jon Venables and Robert Thompson, who murdered the toddler James Bulger and were released on licence in 2001.

Mary Bell was jailed in 1968 at the age of 11 for the manslaughter of two boys, Martin Brown, then four, and Brian Howe, aged three.

She was released from custody in 1980 and gave birth to a daughter in 1984.

Bell and her daughter were initially granted anonymity until the girl reached the age of 18, but in 2003 the High Court ruled that she and her mother should be granted anonymity for life.