Watchdog 'rewrote Baby P report'

Inspectors from the childcare regulator Ofsted were told to delete e-mails relating to their review of Haringey Council in north London, documents released by the High Court revealed.

The watchdog's damning final report on the local authority's provisions for protecting vulnerable children, published in December 2008, led to Ms Shoesmith, 57, being first suspended and then dismissed without compensation.

Drafts of the document were among thousands of pages of documents made public after a request by media organisations.

Reports have claimed the final report contains implicit criticism of Ms Shoesmith that was not in the first version. One of the main findings in the published document, not in the earliest draft, reads: "There is insufficient strategic leadership and management oversight of safeguarding children."

But Ofsted denied suggestions the report was made tougher in response to pressure from Government Ministers.

"There was no pressure from anyone. If there had been we would have strongly resisted it. It is simply unthinkable that an entire team from three different inspectorates could have been influenced."

The regulator said it was "normal practice" for reports to be drafted, edited and finalised.

Ofsted said the request to delete e-mails was retracted on the same day and described it as an "honest mistake" that did not detract from the "fairness of the process".

Ms Shoesmith wants the High Court to rule that she was unlawfully sacked from her 130,000-a-year job as Haringey's head of children's services.

Her lawyers argued in hearings last year that Children's Secretary Ed Balls acted "in haste" and sent Ofsted into Haringey for "party political reasons" after the end of the trial of those responsible for Peter's death.

Mr Justice Foskett was due to deliver his judgment in November, but he reopened the case after Ofsted admitted a failure to disclose documents.

Baby P, who can now be named as Peter Connelly, was just 17 months old when he died in August 2007 at the hands of his mother, Tracey Connelly, her lover, Steven Barker and their lodger, Jason Owen.

He had suffered 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police over the final eight months of his life.

A series of reviews identified missed opportunities when officials could have saved the little boy's life if they had acted properly on the warning signs in front of them.