Baby P social services boss Sharon Shoesmith claims she is worried someone will push her in front of a Tube train
The 63-year-old has received a string of death threats after refusing to stand down
A SOCIAL services boss sacked over the death of Baby P has revealed how she fears being pushed under a train and avoids standing too close to the edge of a platform.
Sharon Shoesmith, who was fired from her job at head of children's services at Haringey Council in 2008, said she was still worried someone would recognise her and try to kill her after the controversy around little Peter Connelly's death.
The 63-year-old received a string of death threats after refusing to resign in the wake of the death the 17-month old on her watch in August 2007.
She was eventually sacked by Ed Balls, the then Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families, in December 2008.
Speaking to the Ham & High newspaper this week, she said she was terrified of someone recognising her.
She said: "I don’t go on to the platform when the tube’s not there, I stay right back in the corridor until it comes in."
There’s absolutely no way in which I’d take personal responsibility for the murder of a child, no way I’d ever do that
Sharon Shoesmith
Dr Shoesmith and her department were slammed in a Serious Case Review hearing, which found that the toddler's death could have been prevented and that "the practice of the majority, individually and collectively... was incompetent".
Admitting she was still considered a hate-figure to many, Dr Shoesmith maintained she was not to blame for the young boy's death, saying: "I wasn’t culpable.
"There’s absolutely no way in which I’d take personal responsibility for the murder of a child, no way I’d ever do that.
"And I don’t think social workers should ever do that either, take personal responsibility, they aren’t personally culpable.
"I didn’t know Peter, I wasn’t there. The social worker knew him but she in no way would have been party to a child losing.
"As far as I’m concerned, I carried out my responsibility, as many other directors have done before and since, because one child a week dies at the hands of their family.
"And if you’re going to sack social workers and directors, every time that happens, you’re just not going to have a service."
Peter Connelly died in 2007 after suffering more than 50 injuries to his little body, with various agencies having visited more than 60 times to check on his welfare.
His death sparked a number of inquiries as well as a nationwide review of social service care.
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But Dr Shoesmith said that Brits were "in denial" about parents harming their children, saying the blame is routinely "heaped on social workers".
She said: "We understand a lot of other things about our world, the number of women who get breast cancer, Alzheimer’s, dementia, but we seem to just bat this one away.
"We can’t face this one."
She estimated that at least one child is killed a week by a family member or person known to them, in cases of 'familial child homicide'.
She added: "If we could raise our awareness, that’s the only way we can begin to tackle that statistic.”
Shoesmith won an unfair dismissal case at the Court of Appeal on 2011 - and she is reported to have received a 'six-figure sum' in compensation.
The controversial former council bigwig recently released a £22.99 book this year called 'Learning From Baby P; The politics of blame, fear and denial'.
Peter Connelly's mum Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Steven Barker, and his brother Jason Owen were convicted of causing or allowing the toddler's death and were sentenced in 2009.
Connelly was caged for a minimum of five years before being released in 2013 and recalled to prison in 2015 for breaching her parole.
Barker was caged for life and Owen jailed for a minimum of three years.
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