BABY P MAN TO LAUNCH APPEAL; Conviction for rape to be challenged.

ONE of the trio jailed over the death of Baby Peter is challenging his conviction for the rape of a two-year-old girl at the Court of Appeal today.

Steven Barker, the boyfriend of the mother of 17-month-old toddler Peter Connelly, is to have his case heard by the Lord Chief Justice, Lord Judge, sitting with two other judges in London.

He was handed a 12-year sentence for causing or allowing the boy's death, but he was also jailed for life with a minimum term of 10 years after being convicted of rape.

Barker, 33, was jailed at the Old Bailey in May along with Peter's mother Tracey Connelly, 28, of Penshurst Road, Tottenham, north London, and lodger Jason Owen, 37, for causing or allowing the child's death. Connelly, who was jailed indefinitely with a minimum term of five years, recently dropped an appeal bid against her sentence. Last month Owen, of Bromley, south east London, won a challenge against an order that he must serve an indefinite prison sentence.

He was originally given an indeterminate sentence of imprisonment for public protection, with a minimum term of three years.

But three judges in the Court of Appeal ruled that he has to serve a six-year jail term instead.

Peter Connelly was found dead in a blood-spattered cot in August 2007.

He had more than 50 injuries, including fractured ribs and a broken back, despite being on the at-risk register and receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over an eight month period.

Barker was told by the sentencing judge that he played a major role in Peter's death.

Barker and Owen, who are brothers, were convicted by a jury of causing or allowing the death of a child at a trial last November, while the mother earlier pleaded guilty to the charge.

CAPTION(S):

JAILED: Steven Barker, left, is to have his case reviewed by the Court of Appeal