The Grandmother's photo

It was a grandmother's cherished photograph - and one which should have saved the toddler's life.
This sepia-tinted portrait of Baby P shows markings to his face that could have alerted the authorities to the ordeal he was suffering at the hands of his abusers.
His injuries were so serious he was admitted to hospital for two days where doctors, nurses and social workers all saw them.



Incredibly, however, police were not told, even though they had launched an investigation against his mother for assault.
The studio shot, showing the toddler dressed as a street urchin, raises questions about whether detectives could have charged the 27-year-old mother at the time.
Haringey council's failure to alert detectives is being investigated by a Government-ordered inquiry, due to report back next month.
Gordon Brown pledged yesterday to act quickly to ensure that those to blame for the failures would be held accountable.

The Prime Minister told MPs: 'It is in all our interests that where there is failure we change the system, and where people are to blame for failures they are held accountable.'
Four separate investigations have been launched into how Baby P was repeatedly returned to his home despite months of abuse at the hands of his mother, her 32-year-old boyfriend and their lodger Jason Owen.
The infant suffered more than 50 injuries including eight broken ribs and a snapped spine and his mother was arrested twice on suspicion of assaulting him.
But the Crown Prosecution Service told police to drop the assault investigation less than a week before his death for lack of evidence.
Its officials were told that Baby P was admitted to hospital twice, in December 2006 and June 2007, with unexplained bruises and other injuries.

But they - and police - were not told about another hospital admission in April 2007, just before this photograph was taken.
Baby P's grandmother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, said the photograph was one of her most treasured possessions, despite her grandson's obvious injuries.
She told a newspaper: 'All I am left with is the few photographs that my daughter gave to me.
'But I can barely stand to look at them, it reminds me of the beautiful little boy and the pain he suffered. I have cried a river over this.
'The last time I saw him he looked like he had been in a concentration camp - it was just a week before he died.'
Wellwishers have continued to leave tributes to Baby P at the spot where his ashes were scattered, in the Remembrance Garden next to Islington Crematorium in North London.

The Grandma says:

'The last time I saw him he looked like he had been in a concentration camp - it was just a week before he died.'


So she decided to not do something about it!!! Well done Grandma.....

eddie wrote:The Grandma says:

'The last time I saw him he looked like he had been in a concentration camp - it was just a week before he died.'


So she decided to not do something about it!!! Well done Grandma.....

i think she must receive an award!

pm wrote:

eddie wrote:The Grandma says:

'The last time I saw him he looked like he had been in a concentration camp - it was just a week before he died.'


So she decided to not do something about it!!! Well done Grandma.....

i think she must receive an award!

there are so many people who just ignored this boy. What a DISGRACE!

Someone also put those photos here :

https://missingmadeleine.forumotion.net/peter-connolly-baby-p-f51/first-signs-of-torture-t1859.htm

Is she all there in the head what a disgrace, she should hang her head in shame.

eddie wrote:The Grandma says:

'The last time I saw him he looked like he had been in a concentration camp - it was just a week before he died.'


So she decided to not do something about it!!! Well done Grandma.....

Unbelievable.....why the hell didn't she pick him up and take him home with her....

Its so unbelievable how she could have just let this carry on...it makes me sick..the poor little boy..so let down.

If we are to believe that this same grandmother was arrested as her daughter blamed her for the abuse to the police then she must have known her daughter was abusing her grandson. She could have done something. I dont care what she says now.

She doesnt derserve to be called 'granma'.

A granma looks after her grandchild, loves him, cares for him, makes sure he doesnt come to any harm, takes him to the park, picks him up when he falls down..... kisses him better, spoils him with icrecream which runs down his little shirt, holds his hand when he walks....very slowly....along the path.

What did she do, stand by and watch peter get battered black and blue, dont tell me she never saw these horrendous bruises over his body, shes a b loody disgrace, she and the so called father are just as guilty as the rest off them, shame on them.

The father walked out on him, his baby sister who was later RAPED by the monster and the rest off his children, going got too touch for him, did it, so walk away from it all and forget about it....make me sick this lot.



Dont worry Peter, your in a far far better place now, with god to look after you tenderly... I KNOW i will see you, one day, in heaven....the same heaven that those horrible murderes will NEVER end up in.

kitti wrote:She doesnt derserve to be called 'granma'.

A granma looks after her grandchild, loves him, cares for him, makes sure he doesnt come to any harm, takes him to the park, picks him up when he falls down..... kisses him better, spoils him with icrecream which runs down his little shirt, holds his hand when he walks....very slowly....along the path.

What did she do, stand by and watch peter get battered black and blue, dont tell me she never saw these horrendous bruises over his body, shes a b loody disgrace, she and the so called father are just as guilty as the rest off them, shame on them.

The father walked out on him, his baby sister who was later RAPED by the monster and the rest off his children, going got too touch for him, did it, so walk away from it all and forget about it....make me sick this lot.



Dont worry Peter, your in a far far better place now, with god to look after you tenderly... I KNOW i will see you, one day, in heaven....the same heaven that those horrible murderes will NEVER end up in.

Excellent comment Kitti!!!

I'm a grandmother and every word you say in your first paragraph is 100% right but I'll add that a good grandmother would also knock her daughter out for treating her grandchild in this way!

Oh yes that too amber.

I havent got any grand children (yet)(i live in hope) and i would give my right arm to off had peter as a grand child, i really would, and now hes gone. I went on a march december and i can tell you it was the most saddest thing i have ever done, i was choked most off the day, but im glad i did it, for darling peter, i had to do something for him...i wasnt their for him when he was being abused so he deserved me being their to get justice for him.

kitti wrote:Oh yes that too amber.

I havent got any grand children (yet)(i live in hope) and i would give my right arm to off had peter as a grand child, i really would, and now hes gone. I went on a march december and i can tell you it was the most saddest thing i have ever done, i was choked most off the day, but im glad i did it, for darling peter, i had to do something for him...i wasnt their for him when he was being abused so he deserved me being their to get justice for him.

What a lovely thing to say Kitti!!

I know how you feel....I dont even want to think back of the pain I went through in the days we first heard about Peter! I kept thinking of my grandchild and even told my daughter that if she ever lost patience with her to let me know beforehand but I asked her never ever to hurt her!!

I know she wouldnt but I wasnt thinking straight after seeing what poor little Peter went through!

The first weeks were dark for me, i couldnt stop thinking about him, even now when i look at pics off him i still get upset or i see a little boy similar to him, i watch to see how hes being treated and think off peter and wished he was loved and wanted.

The monsters that took his life dont deserve to breath the same air as us, i am partially ashamed to say i would do them a good deal off harm and WOULDNT feel ANY remorse for doing it.

I often sit and think about other abused children, whats happening to them at that moment, are they in pain, but the awful fact is...a child at this very moment in time is being abused and theres nothing i can do about it, only read about it after it has happened.

BABY PETER...I WILL NEVER FORGET YOU DARLING XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx........................

I remember seeing baby Peter's granma on one of the morning programmes, 'Trisha' I think it was. She made every excuse under the sun for not interveening, saying she was made by her daughters boyfriend to stay away. Sorry, but NO WAY in a million years would that stop most of us Grannies, infact, it would make you more determined to get in there and check it out. Trisha asked about her involvement with social services concerning Peter and she admitted she had been checked out by them because he had bruises on his back after she'd looked after him, her excuse for that was, she's picked him up a bit too tightly and it left the marks on his back!!
What chance did the poor mite stand

wjk, it is an absolute abomination what happened to that baby. Unfortunately, it happens all the time, everyday, everywhere.....

trouble is with this country especially were social services are involved it always take a child death for those in charge to take any notice.but nothing ever changed.we had this same reaction with the clumbie case what change nothing.the whole system needs a complete overall.if not we will get more baby peter`s.we need to care for these children,not ignore them.

Unfortunately children that grow up with disfunctional parents will go on to be disfunctional parents themselves, they dont know any better.

Its a vicious circle.