The ex-husband of shamed Baby P boss Sharon Shoesmith was convicted after being caught with a haul of child porn
Baby P, real name Peter Connelly, died in Haringey, north London, in 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries.
He was just 17 months old when he was killed by Steven Barker, the partner of Baby P’s mother, and his paedophile brother Jason Owen.
The case provoked a national scandal after it emerged that social workers, police and doctors missed a series of warning signs that could have saved the child’s life during the eight-month period of abuse.
Ms Shoesmith, the former boss of Haringey Children’s Services department, was eventually sacked in 2008 after refusing to step down over the scandal.
It is thought that she was married to Geoffrey for 25 years but that the two split before she was sacked in December.
The offences are thought to have taken place between October 2008 and August 2014.
Today, a relative of the child told The Sun: ‘Geoffrey Shoesmith’s conviction is ironic given her role at Haringey was meant to be to protect kids.
‘The family is already very angry about her book.
‘What gives her the right, given how Haringey failed Peter, to write about it and make money?’
- Baby P, real name Peter Connelly, died in Haringey, north London, in 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries
In the aftermath of Baby P’s death, his mother, Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend, Steven Barker, and their lodger, Jason Owen, were all jailed.
But it later emerged that Baby P had seen a number of social workers, police and health workers before he died, but all had failed to place the toddler into care.
A serious case review that investigated the conduct of social workers, GPs and police involved in the case found: ‘The practice of the majority, individually and collectively… was incompetent,’ and his death ‘could have been prevented’.
Ms Shoesmith, 63, has never publicly apologised for the toddler’s death, despite a damning report that exposed deep failings in Mrs Shoesmith’s department.
She even claimed previously that she was herself a ‘victim’ of the Baby P scandal, because she had not managed to find a job since 2008.
Last year, she received a £680,000 payout from Haringey Council after winning an unfair dismissal case over her sacking by then children’s minister Ed Balls.
Archive: Sharon Shoesmith wins appeal over Baby P sacking