THE monstrous stepdad of Baby P has become a JEHOVAH'S WITNESS in jail.
Sadistic brute Steven Barker, 33, keeps a bible in his cell and has told prison staff that he has "found God at last".
Last night officers tasked with guarding the beast from attacks by fellow cons remained dubious about the motive for his sudden conversion.
But a senior source at Wakefield prison in West Yorkshire insisted: "Barker is deadly serious about his new faith."
Evil Barker was caged with twisted lover Tracey Connelly, 28, after she helped him torture to death her defenceless 17-month-old toddler Peter. Barker is also serving life for raping a girl of two. The source said: "A lot of officers feel his conversion is a cynical move to try to win them over because it makes him look like he's got a moral compass after all.
"But the thought of seeing him on a doorstep clutching a copy of The Watchtower will chill anyone to the bone."
The 6ft 4in maniac's new creed means he cannot smoke, get drunk - or read The Sun in case he sees a Page 3 girl. But his conversion has alarmed chiefs at the jail where Barker is a hate target for cons. Jehovah's Witnesses are not allowed to have blood transfusions.
The source said: "His choice of religion may have very real security implications." Depraved Barker plans to lumber taxpayers with a whopping £500,000 bill by brazenly appealing against his sentence for causing or allowing Peter's agonising death in Haringey, North London.
He got a minimum of 12 years, while the toddler's diabolical mum was jailed for at least five.
His vile brother Jason Owen, 37 - who was lodging with the family - got three years for his part in the horror.
Barker is also bidding to overturn his child-rape conviction.
Last night a Prison Service spokeswoman said of him becoming a Jehovah's Witness: "We do not comment on individual cases."