THE brothers found guilty of causing the death of toddler Peter Connelly - Baby P - could face charges for torturing their grandmother.

Stephen Barker, 33, and Jason Owen, 37, who grew up in Ferry Lane Estate, Tottenham Hale, were accused of attacking 82-year-old Hilda Barker in Whitstable in 1995.

It emerged that Owen changed his last name by deed poll in a bid to disassociate himself from his younger brother.

The case has now been referred from Kent police to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) for review.

The CPS will now establish whether there is sufficient evidence for prosecution, a Kent police spokesman told the BBC.

It was revealed earlier this year that the brothers were charged with assaulting Mrs Barker in an attempt to make her change her will.

After moving to the safety of a care home, Mrs Barker told police her grandsons had locked her in a wardrobe and beat her until she was badly bruised.

The case was dropped a year later due to lack of evidence but could be brought to trial following the CPS review.

During the Baby P trial, the court heard that "simple" Stephen Barker was a regular visitor to his grandmother's grave in Tottenham Cemetery where he weeded it. Peter's mother Tracey Connelly, 28, and her former partner Barker are serving indeterminate sentences with minimum terms of five and 12 years, respectively.

Owen, of Bromley, south London, has a six-year sentence for causing or allowing the child's death following his recent successful appeal which saw his indeterminate sentence quashed at the High Court.

Peter Connelly from a catalogue of injuries including eight fractured ribs and a broken back which effectively caused his death.

In a separate court case, Barker was also given a life sentence for raping a two-year-old girl.