A TOTTENHAM GP is facing a medical watchdog today over allegations he failed to properly investigate suspicions that tragic toddler Baby Peter was being abused.

The 17-month-old, killed following months of sustained violence, attended Dr Jerome Ikwueke's Tottenham surgery with bruises and other injuries.

But Dr Ikwueke did not refer him for urgent assessment, inform other relevant professionals or keep adequate records, the General Medical Council alleges.

The doctor is also said to have ignored a request from social services for a report on Peter Connelly — best known as Baby P — and his family.

The GMC's Fitness to Practise Panel said: "When a child presented on several occasions with bruising and other injuries and during a consultation seemed withdrawn and pulled away and appeared to have markedly changed behaviour, Dr Jerome Ikwueke a general practitioner, failed to consider or investigate the possibility of child abuse or neglect."

It added: "His conduct was not in the best interests of his patient, was below the standard expected of a reasonably competent general practitioner and was a serious breach of his professional duty towards the child."

The inquiry is expected to last six weeks.

Dr Ikwueke twice referred the boy to hospital specialists after becoming concerned about suspicious marks on his face and body.

The GP saw Peter 14 times in the months preceding the child's death on August 3, 2007.

Most of the visits were routine check-ups, but in October 2006 the boy was brought to see Dr Ikwueke with bruises on his head and chest, which were attributed to an accidental fall.

Two months later he was again taken to the doctor with bruising on his face and body.

This time Dr Ikwueke referred him to Whittington Hospital, in Archway, where he was seen by specialists.

The GP once more referred Peter to hospital experts in April 2007, when the child was brought to him with bruises, two black eyes and swelling on his head.

The boy's mother claimed the wounds were caused when another child pushed him onto a marble fireplace.

Dr Ikwueke, who qualified as a doctor at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria, was suspended from practice in February last year.

Peter suffered 50 injuries despite receiving 60 visits from social workers, doctors and police and was on the Haringey Council children at-risk register.

His mother Tracey Connelly, her boyfriend Stephen Barker, and his brother Jason Owen were jailed at the Old Bailey in May last year for causing or allowing his death.

Dr Ikwueke is the second doctor to face GMC misconduct allegations over Peter's care.

Consultant paediatrician Sabah Al-Zayyat is accused of failing to spot a broken back when she examined him two days before his death.

She was due to face a GMC disciplinary panel in February but failed to appear. The hearing was adjourned until an indefinite date after she was said to be "suicidal".