By
Vanessa Allen and
Colin Fernandez
He reaches out towards
an unseen figure behind the camera, and the start of a smile lifts his chubby
cheeks, exposing his first baby teeth.
This is one of the unbearably poignant photographs showing for the first time
the dreadful and swift transformation Baby P suffered in the last months of
his tragically short life.
The picture here was taken when he was 12 months old. It shows a youngster
with bright blue eyes and white-blond hair.
That was before his stepfather set about seriously abusing him over the next
few months under the nose of social workers
Another picture - taken just a week before his death in August last year -
shows the heartbreaking result of his mother's neglect and the incompetence of
the professionals charged with protecting him.
The lively golden-haired toddler has been replaced by a helpless,
shaven-headed shadow. His empty, red-ringed eyes stare vacantly, his skin pale
and his cheeks hollowed.
The child's face is smeared with chocolate, the apparently innocent remainder
of a messy lunchtime.
But in Baby P's case, the sinister truth is that his mother had used it to
hide the bruising from the beatings meted out by his stepfather.
And he has lost so much weight that - at 17-months-old - he looks younger and
more like a baby than he did at a year.
Sinister truth: Baby P's face is smeared with chocolate by his mother to hide
the bruising from beatings
Publishing pictures of
Baby P had been banned due to further legal proceedings against the
stepfather.
But yesterday, several newspapers including the Daily Mail won a legal battle
to show the public the shocking pictures.
While many will find the photographs upsetting it is crucial for the public to
see to put a human face on the tragedy as politicians and officials continue
to pass the buck over who was to blame for failing to save his life.
The images contrast with the bureaucratic self-righteousness of many of those
involved in the Baby P saga.
Yesterday
Tory leader David Cameron called for full publication of correspondence in the
case and said that Baby P had 'fallen through the cracks in a bureaucratic
system'.
He added: 'If letters are sent with both Haringey and children in the same
sentence, then that should have been a real wake-up call.'
Gordon Brown gave fresh assurances that a series of inquiries would expose the
truth about Baby P.
The Prime Minister said: 'I am determined to do everything in my power to make
sure that this does not happen again. Every family needs to know that their
children are safe at night.'
Speaking during a trip to the United States, he added: 'I am determined that
everything we do, the inquiries we are having in this case, reveal everything
that went on.
'But I am absolutely sure that, like me, every parent in the country is
outraged and shocked by what has happened and angered about what happened to
that infant.'
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