Baby P’s mother ‘sorry’ for failing dead son, court hears

THE mother of Baby P has apologised for failing her dead son and for the pain and suffering she has caused, a court has heard.

The 27-year-old woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, wrote to a judge from prison on the eve of her sentencing over the brutal death of the 17-month-old toddler.

“I am sorry for all the pain and suffering my failure has led to,” she wrote on a torn-out page of a notebook.

“I have lost all I hold dear to me.

“Now every day of my life is full of guilt. I am trying to come to terms with my failure as a mother,” she also wrote.

“I can only hope and pray my family, my ex-husband included, can one day forgive me of my mistakes. However, I know I can’t forgive myself of my shortcomings. I am truly sorry.”

The woman, her 32-year-old lover, and lodger Jason Owen, 37, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey today for causing or allowing Baby P’s death in August 2007.

The woman listened in the dock as the letter was read out in court by her barrister.

Her child was 17-months-old when he died in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007, having spent much of his life being used as a punching bag.

Social workers, police and health professionals failed to save him despite 60 visits over eight months, during which time he suffered more than 50 injuries.

The local authority, Haringey Council in north London, has been severely criticised over the case, which shocked the country and prompted a national review of child protection services.