Teenager speaks of regret over baby

In an interview, the 16-year-old - named Mary in the report because she cannot be identified for legal reasons - described the abuse that was inflicted on the toddler by his 27-year-old mother and her 32-year-old boyfriend.

Baby P died in a blood-splattered cot in Haringey, north London, in August last year. He had suffered more than 50 injuries despite repeated visits by the authorities.

The toddler's mother, her boyfriend and their lodger, Jason Owen, 36, will be sentenced at the Old Bailey on December 15 for causing or allowing his death.

Mary moved into the house aged 15 when she ran away from home to be with her lover Owen, 20 years her senior, in June 2007. They lived there with Owen's three children - the eldest just a year younger than Mary - and Baby P's mother, her boyfriend and four children.

She said the mother's boyfriend, whom she described as a "brute", would enjoy tormenting the toddler by hurting him and training him to perform Nazi salutes.

"I was really scared because of what I'd seen. I thought he'd do that to me. His eyes were evil. When he was hurting Baby P he'd look at me and grin. He was evil all the time," she said.

When one of the other youngsters started screaming that Baby P was dead, Mary said the child's mother did her hair and got dressed before the ambulance was called. She said Owen tried to resuscitate the child but the mother's boyfriend "didn't care".

Mary, who gave evidence via videolink in the recent court case, said Haringey social services had "blood on their hands" for missing clues about what happened in the house.

She told the paper she had flashbacks to the "beautiful" toddler every day, saying: "I just wish I hadn't been too scared to stand up to his stepdad. Now I deserve to suffer."