Baby P staff 'were not competent'

Baby Peter's "horrifying death could and should have been prevented" but he was let down by the incompetence of almost every member of staff with whom he came into contact, according to a previously secret report that was finally published yesterday.

His mother, Tracey Connelly, her partner Steven Barker, and Barker's brother, Jason Owen, were jailed last year for causing or allowing Peter's death. The authorities failed to spot Barker was Connelly's boyfriend, and ran no checks on him.

The report also found social workers were too willing to believe Connelly's lies about how her son was injured.