Sacked Baby P boss's legal war could cost the taxpayer £3.5m

Sharon Shoesmith's battle over her sacking after the Baby P tragedy could cost the taxpayer £3.5million, it emerged today.

The former Haringey council director of children's services could get £1million in damages if a ruling that she was lawfully sacked is overturned. She will be entitled to a £1.5million pension pot, while the public cost of defending the case could top £1million.

In the Appeal Court she renewed her fight against the council, regulator Ofsted and former children's secretary Ed Balls over the loss of her £130,000-a-year job. Ms Shoesmith claims she was made a scapegoat and that her career was ruined by a media witch-hunt and political pressure.

She was sacked in 2008 after an Ofsted report into failings in her department exposed by the death of 17-month-old Peter Connelly. Peter died in 2007 at the hands of his mother Tracey, her lover and their lodger despite 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police.