Local newspapers were today free to name the couple responsible for the death of Baby Peter after the court order protecting their identities expired at midnight.

As the national media rushed to identify the killers, the Haringey Independent updated its website at 12.10am this morning with the story naming Peter’s mother Tracey Connelly and her former partner Steven Barker.

Alongside a three-paragraph story the paper also published pictures of the pair together with Barker’s brother Jason Owens, who was convicted along with them last year of causing or allowing the death of the child.

The story has since been replaced by a longer version containing further details of the pair, who grew up in the heart of the paper’s patch on Tottenham’s Ferry Lane Estate.

The lifting of the order also provided a front-page splash for the Leicester Mercury after it emerged that Connelly had been born in the city in 1981 and spent the first two years of her life there.

Connelly’s natural father, Richard Johnson, is a gardener in Leicester who gave evidence at her trial last year.

Baby Peter died on 3 August 2007 aged 17 months after months of torture and abuse at the home where he lived with his mother, Barker and Owen.

The naming of the pair and the likely public reaction means they are likely to need completely new identities if and when they are released from prison.

The decision by Mr Justice Coleridge to lift the order protecting their anonymity followed pressure from several major media organisations.

However Haringey Council, which has previously been severeley criticised for its handling of the case, made two attempts to keep Connelly’s name secret.

The judge based his decision on Article 10 of the Human Rights Act, the right to freedom of expression, and the importance of maintaining public faith in the criminal justice system.

He said the case was so notorious that “for the public to be prohibited from learning the identity of the defendants may give rise to considerable public disquiet.”