BROTHERS OF EVIL; Cruel duo and mum tortured Baby Peter.

Byline: TOM PARRY; ANDREW GREGORY

THE evil Barker brothers indulged their sick sadism years before they pitilessly tormented Baby Peter - by brutalising their frail gran.

The pair relentlessly beat 82-year-old Hilda Barker then locked her in wardrobe to make her change her will in their favour.

Jason Barker and younger brother Steven also terrified her by putting on Guy Fawkes masks and staring in at her window. They were arrested for attacking her in November 1995.

Hilda was so traumatised she had to be moved into a care home. But the Barkers never stood trial because she died of pneumonia and police dropped the case.

But Hilda's former neighbour Jacqueline Cole, 58, said she remembers the two boys' visits to their grandma's house in Whitstable, Kent, with horror.

And she is convinced the brutal treatment Hilda received led directly to her death. She added: "They were unruly boys coming from a rough part of London. But their parents were such lovely people.

"Every time they came to visit Hilda was bruised. She was frightened every time they came down.

"She was black and blue when they were here. I don't know what they did, she would never say. All up her arms, we would see it but she would say 'I fell'."

A decade later the brothers' mindless cruelty led to the death of 17-month old Baby P, who can now be named as Peter Connelly. They were aided and abetted by the baby's mum Tracey Connelly.

She not only hid the fact that the vicious pair were living in her house - but somehow convinced social workers the baby's many bruises were the results of clumsy accidents.

The father of the Barker boys yesterday said he was horrified by his sons' sadism and poor Peter's suffering.

ATTACK

The 63-year-old added: "What they did was awful and they deserve to be punished. I don't care what happens to them. Everyone thinks they are monsters and I don't think any different."

The dad said he and his 54-year-old wife were scared to leave their home in North London for fear of being attacked.

He added: "I can't eat, I can't sleep. I'm terrified. I've tried to explain to people but people don't understand. I have to watch my back. I haven't had any sleep for days. I am absolutely exhausted."

A neighbour said: "The curtains are rarely opened. They are like fugitives, always looking over their shoulders."

At the Old Bailey trial, it was said that Steven Barker bore the greatest responsibility for the violence that killed Peter.

But as the brothers grew up it was the elder Jason who was the dominant one.

Jason, who changed his surname to Owen after Peter's death in an attempt to keep his true identity secret, is said to have relentlessly bullied Steven.

Their sister said illiterate Steven was a "a bit backward" and was taunted by Jason, who called him Fat Boy.

Steven eventually left home and after drifting through a series of odd jobs he began living in North London, where he worked as a handy man. In 2006 he met Connelly. They became lovers and he moved into her church-owned Tottenham home.

Connelly, the daughter of a woman with drink and drug problems, had been involved with social workers all her life and knew how to manipulate them.

She married Peter's father, who was 17 years her senior, when she was just 16, having lied to him about her age.

The relationship was short-lived.

Steven initially played the doting father and Peter called him Dad. In a home video shown at his trial he is seen showering the baby with affection.

But the Nazi-obsessed sadist, who tortured guinea pigs and frogs as a child, was soon playing his cruel games with a helpless human prey.

He trained Peter to follow commands like a dog and forced him to sit with his head bent between his legs at the click of a finger.

Other sadistic routines included placing the boy on a stool and spinning it round until he fell off. Teeth marks on the baby's head suggested Steven's rottweiler had been allowed to bite him. Meanwhile Connelly repeatedly convinced both doctors and social workers that Peter's injuries were accidental.

She claimed he kept falling over and banging his head.

The abuse of Peter escalated after Jason moved into the house with his 15-year-old girlfriend, who was a runaway.

Jason laughed at the brutal way Steven treated Peter. In the toddler's final week one or both of the brothers are thought to have swung him around by his neck and legs. Peter was found dead in his blood-spattered cot in August 2007.

A postmortem found eight of his ribs had been broken. His spinal column was snapped and one of his teeth had been punched out. His fingernails had been pulled off.

Jason tried to help his brother cover up the crime. He took Steven to a campsite in Epping Forest and helped dispose of blood-stained bedding and clothing.

Police later said Jason was more concerned at being caught with an under-age girl than the fact that Peter had died.

Jason, a father of three, was on bail until halfway through the trial when a plan to flee the country was uncovered.

Police discovered he had been trying to change his name again and applying for a new passport. All three defendants were cleared of murder at their trial because of lack of evidence. Mum of five Connelly, 28, and both Barkers were convicted of causing or allowing Peter's death.

At the time of the trial none of them could be named for legal reasons. They can now be identified because a court ruling insisting on anonymity has been lifted.

Steven Barker, 33, was sentenced to life, with a minimum of 12 years.

He was convicted at a separate trial of raping a two-year-old girl who was also on Haringey's Child Protection Register.

Jason Barker, 37, was jailed for three years. Connelly was given an indefinite jail term, until she is deemed to no longer be a risk. Steven remained impassive throughout the Baby P trial and the later proceedings which led to his conviction for raping the two-year-old.

Because he denied the charges the girl, now four, was forced to give evidence - the youngest sex assault victim to do so at the Old Bailey.

All three of Peter's tormentors will spend the rest of their time behind bars looking over their shoulders, fearful of attacks from fellow inmates.

A Prison Service source said: "Everyone knows there is a price on their heads.

"I have not seen this level of rage directed against anyone since Ian Huntley and Maxine Carr were jailed over the Soham murders."

STEVEN BARKER

SADIST who used his 18 stone frame to torture people and animals.

Abused and brutalised as a boy, the twisted handyman took out his rage on those weaker than him. Suspected of subjecting his younger brother to violence. Barker chopped up guinea pigs and broke the legs of frogs to watch them suffer before skinning them alive. Had several children with another woman.

Fascinated by Hitler, Barker collected Nazi daggers and helmets.

Kept a pet snake he fed mice, chicks and rabbits. Mutilated remains littered his and Connelly's flat.

JASON BARKER

HAD a long record of deceit before his part in Peter's tragic death.

Was convicted of arson after burning down his home to get rehoused.

Barker has a record for theft. When he moved in with his brother and Connelly he was on the run from his under-age girlfriend's extended family in South London. The couple would hide when social services visited.

After Peter died, he helped Steven get rid of the bedsheets and baby clothes by dumping them in a canal.

He then went on the run from police and hid for nearly two weeks in Epping Forest, Essex, with his 15-year-old girlfriend and brother.

Granted bail after he was charged over Peter's death, Barker applied for a passport during the trial and was promptly arrested before he could flee the country.

TRACEY CONNELLY

MANIPULATIVE and deceitful, she learned how to lie to social workers during her own damaged childhood.

Born to a child rapist in 1981, Connelly moved from Leicester to London with her mum Mary when she was 18 months old.

She was unaware her biological father was paedophile Richard Johnson until she was 12. He was jailed for raping a child in 1988.

As a teenager, Connelly was abused by a relative while her mum spent her days smoking cannabis.

At 15, she was sent to a boarding school for troubled children. Brighter than she wanted the jury to realise, Connelly got GCSEs in English and IT.

Within months of leaving, she had started a relationship with Peter's dad after lying about her age. They married and in March 2006 their son was born, but soon after the dad moved out.

Connelly had cheated on him with a string of men including Steven Barker. Barker moved in and in one email she wrote: "My fella is nuts but being in love is great."

DOGS

Connelly claimed pounds 450 a month in benefits and never worked after a brief spell as a hairdresser and waitress.

Most days she would spend hours on internet chatrooms brandishing the phrase "need-choc-got-pmt".

Friends thought she was more devoted to her dogs than her baby.

When Peter was one, Connelly moaned he "wanted cuddles all the time". By now, her dad was visiting her home and Barker's brother moved in.

As Peter's ordeal began, Connelly got angry but only about how they treated her. In emails, she wrote: "Steve stops kissing me and hugging me. We have sex that goes wrong. Steve shouts at me and makes pig noises."

In a bid to keep her benefits, hide her relationship with Barker and cover up Peter's abuse, she lied to police, doctors and social workers.

In court, she cried in front of the jury in an attempt to make out she was a struggling mother whose only crime was to fall in love with the wrong man.

How full horror of death emerged

AUGUST 2007: A baby boy of 17 months from Haringey is taken to hospital after his mother called 999 but the tot was dead on arrival.

Doctors discover the angelic blond boy had died of horrific injuries.

He had endured 50 wounds over eight months and died with a broken back, eight broken ribs and a fingertip missing.

Police later arrest the boy's mum Tracey Connelly, boyfriend Steven Barker and lodger Jason Barker, Steven's brother.

The boy is given his infamous name Baby P because legal restrictions meant he could not be named.

SEPTEMBER 2008: The three go on trial at the Old Bailey for murder, amid huge media attention.

Public outrage erupts after it is revealed social services have been watching Baby P's family since December 2006 when he was put on the Haringey child protection register.

OCTOBER 2008: Connelly is cleared on a judge's direc-tioof murdering Peter but has already admitted allowing his death.

Barker is sentenced to at least 12 years' jail. Connelly is told she could be released in under three years and Jason Barker in just two years after time served on remand. Baby P's name is revealed as Peter.

NOVEMBER 2008: A probe is launched into Haringey's child care and its head of children's services, Sharon Shoesmith, is sacked.

TODAY: The evil faces of Connelly and Steven Barker are finally revealed.

Home of screams left kids scarred

FOR two years strict legal orders have stopped Tracey Connelly and Steven Barker being named.

They were protected first by orders in the crown court and later because of proceedings in the High Court over the care of Baby Peter's three siblings.

Newspapers were bound by the ruling though it was ignored by unofficial websites and internet forums. Today's date was set as a suitable time for the injunction to end after legal proceedings finished.

Yesterday a friend of Peter's father said he had taken the three children on holiday to shield them from publicity.

The friend said: "These children have gone through so much even though they are still very young.

"They were in the house while their little brother Peter was being tortured by Steven Barker and his brother Jason, as well as their own mum.

"They heard his screams and were powerless to stop it. Conditions were terrible. The house was never cleaned and they were practically left to fend for themselves.

"Peter's dad is doing everything he can to make sure they grow up normally but it is very hard. They are all extremely traumatised.

"He struggles to make ends meet and says benefits promised by Haringey have been delayed."

Steven Barker and Connelly's own child, a girl born while the mum was on remand in Holloway, was taken into care at birth.

CAPTION(S):

BRUTALISED Peter Connelly HORROR HOUSE: Home in Tottenham where Peter died WEDDING Connelly marries Peter's dad. She lied about age