[Harry!]

Baby Peter's mother has been jailed indefinitely and told she will serve at least five years for her role in her son's death.

Sentencing her, the judge rejected the suggestion that she was "blind to what was happening in that house" or that she was "naive".

She showed no emotion until her boyfriend was sentenced to life, when her mouth fell open and she appeared to mouth "No".

The little boy's "stepfather" will serve 12 years after his part in both Baby Peter's death and the rape of a toddler.

The 32-year-old man, who cannot be named, was given a life sentence with a minimum term of ten years for the rape, and 12 years for his part in Baby Peter's death, to run concurrently.

The couple's lodger Jason Owen, 37, was given an indeterminate sentence for public protection with a minimum period of three years.

The NSPCC criticised the minimum sentences imposed on Owen and the mother as "disappointing".

"While the indeterminate sentences passed on these two and the life sentence passed on the third for the rape of a two-year-old girl are welcome, the minimum sentences mean they could be free in a few short years," said a spokesman.

"The sentences mean they would still be young enough to start new lives and new families when released."

Meanwhile, a serious case review has concluded Baby Peter's death "could and should have been prevented".

It found that agencies would only have been willing to move him if the injuries he suffered were found to be "non-accidental beyond all reasonable doubt".

Jailing Baby Peter's tormentors, Judge Stephen Kramer said: "Any decent person who heard the catalogue of medical conditions and non-accidental injuries suffered by Peter cannot fail to have been appalled.

"It was clear that significant force had been used on Peter on a number of occasions.

"Whatever the truth of what took place and the role and motivation of each individual, the result was that a child died in horrific circumstances with injuries that can only have caused great pain and distress prior to his death."

He told Peter's mother: "You are a manipulative and self-centred person, with a calculating side as well as a temper.

"I reject the suggestion that you were blind to what was happening in that house or that you were naive.

"Your conduct over the months prevented Peter from being seen by social services. You actively deceived the authorities.

"Health professionals who saw Peter shortly before he died seem at the least to have missed the import of the injuries to him.

"However, that does not, in my judgment, absolve you from your culpability. You acted selfishly because your priority was your relationship with (the stepfather)."

The review is the second into Baby Peter's death and was ordered by Children's Secretary Ed Balls after serious concerns over the first.

It said doctors, lawyers, police and social workers should have been able to stop the situation "in its tracks at the first serious incident"

Agencies were "lacking urgency", "lacking thoroughness" and "insufficiently challenging to the parent".

The review concluded that Peter "deserved better from the services that were there to protect him".

"When such injuries did come they were catastrophic, and he died of them," the review found.

"The panel deeply regrets the responses of the services were not sufficiently effective in protecting him."

Baby Peter, was 17 months old when he was found dead in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007 after suffering a broken back and fractured ribs.

He had more than 50 injuries despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over eight months.

Five employees of Haringey Council in north London, including children's services director Sharon Shoesmith, were sacked and the General Medical Council has suspended two doctors involved in the case.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/4/20090522/...r-dba1618.html