Baby P’s evil mum Tracey Connelly has made a new friend at her halfway house – a killer who smothered her three-year-old daughter.
Connelly, 41, whose appalling cruelty to her toddler son Peter repulsed the nation, was pictured out shopping while listening to music on headphones.
Now living in a halfway house, Connolly has reportedly grown close to fellow resident Helen Caudwell, 54, who throttled her three-year-old daughter Bethany with a pyjama case in October 2009, The Mirror reports.
The child suffered 50 injuries at the hands of his mum, stepdad, Steven Barker and Barker’s brother Jason Owen, with mistakes by social workers meaning medics missed vital warning signs.
Caudwell, who tried to kill herself after her crime, is now living with Connolly at an unnamed hostel in the north of England.
Caudwell is out on licence.
Staff have told fellow residents at the taxpayer-funded digs in the north of England to ‘be nice’ to Connelly.
A source said: ‘Tracey and Helen are mates… they’re always talking to each other.
‘Tracey very rarely leaves the building. A couple of girls have been warned not to bully her. They’re told not to judge each other’s crimes.
‘They hate what she did but they just have to live with it. If they say anything, they’re threatened with being recalled to prison.
‘There are normal girls in there along with child killers. They just have to accept it. If Tracey does go out, she wears a mask or puts her hood up. She’s on a tag. But she just spends most of her time lounging around.’
David Spencer, director of the Centre for Crime Prevention, said: ‘It is appalling to see this woman free to walk the streets again.
‘Few people would disagree her horrendous crimes deserved far longer behind bars. I am pleased that Dominic Raab agrees and did his utmost to keep her in jail.
‘Let’s hope he now delivers long-overdue and meaningful reform to the parole system.’
police said: “We might never know for sure why Caudwell committed this most unnatural of crimes. It has devastated a family.
‘Connelly was ordered to serve at least five years when she was jailed in 2009. She was first released in 2013 but was recalled to prison in 2015.
She allegedly breached her licence by selling naked photos of herself and ‘developing intimate personal relationships’ online.
The parole board cleared her for release last year due to a low risk of reoffending. She has 20 licence conditions, including wearing a tag and having to declare new relationships.
