Disgusting

Regular readers of this blog will already be familiar with the Baby P case. It is the case of a 17 month old boy who was beaten and tortured to death by his mother and her boyfriend while Haringey Social Services and the Metropolitan Police sat back and watched. In November 2008 Baby P's mother and step-father were convicted of causing or allowing his death. On Friday 22nd of May 2009 the pair, along with another man, were finally sentenced for that lesser offence.

In his closing statement the trial judge, Stephen Kramer, described the crime as one so severe that no decent person could help but be appalled by it. He then spent the next five minutes detailing the 22 injuries that Baby P sustained in the last 8 months of his life. These include a broken leg, a broken spine a fingernails that had been torn from the nail beds. Turning to the defendants Judge Kramer described the step-father's role in the crime as extraordinary and abhorrent. Of Baby P's mother he said that she was a manipulative and self centered person with a temper. Having listed the severity of the offence and the unquestionable guilt of the defendants Judge Kramer then handed absurdly lenient sentences.

For Baby P's step-father, Steven Barker, the Judge could have awarded a maximum sentence of 34 years. Instead he automatically reduced the sentence by two years because Barker had also been convicted of anally raping a two and a half year old girl. He then ordered that the sentences to the two crimes could be served at the same time rather then one after the other. As a final insult the judge ordered that the sentence could further be reduced by half in return for good behaviour leaving a total sentence of just 10 years. Given time already served on remand Steven Barker will be released in just 7 years.

For Baby P's mother, who had a second child whilst on remand, the judge could have awarded a maximum sentence of 14 years. Instead he automatically reduced the sentence by a third for entering a guilty plea even though she plead not guilty throughout the trial. Judge Kramer again allowed the sentence to be furthered reduced by half in return for good behaviour. That leaves a total sentence of just 5 years and with time already served Baby P's mother should be out of jail in time to be the guest of honour at the 2012 Olympics.

To make matters worse Baby P's mother won't serve her sentence in the general prison population. Instead she will serve her time in Holloway Prisons Life Sentence Unit. This is a specialist unit to house prisoners who will never, ever be released from prisoner. To keep these women with nothing left to lose under some sort of control the LSU is more luxurious then a normal prison wing with each inmate being given their own cell and special privileges like money, TV's and games consoles. Holloway's LSU made the headline last year when it emerged that it had spent £3000 throwing a Christmas party for the inmates. With only a five year sentence I'm not sure how Baby P's mother qualifies for this special treatment.

5 years and 10 years. If that's all the punishment you get in Britain for torturing and killing an infant I'm not expecting much to come from the MP's expenses scandal.