Alfie Steele: More than 60 calls for help before Wolverhampton-born boy's murder

The nine-year-old died in February 2021 after being found lifeless in a bath at his home in Droitwich with more than 50 injuries all over his body, having been hit with a leather belt and “dunked” in the bath.

An investigation into his death later uncovered a vicious mixture of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his mother, Carla Scott and her partner Dirk Howell.

More than 60 calls were made to police and social services before a nine-year-old boy was killed by his mum and her partner, the investigation has found.

The Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership have released the Child Safeguarding Practice Review following the murder of Alfie, with the multi-agency review highlighting learning points, practice considerations and recommendations for a number of agencies, including West Mercia Police.

Scott was found guilty of manslaughter and child cruelty, while Howell was convicted of murder in June last year at Coventry Crown Court.

Scott lived on The Scotlands estate in Wolverhampton, where she lived before moving to Worcestershire. It is believed she went to Berrybrook Primary School in Wolverhampton to when they left Moreton Secondary School in the city at 16.

Passing sentence on the pair at Coventry Crown Court at the time, Mr Justice Wall told them: “You have both refused to tell the truth about the day of Alfie’s death, preferring to lie to pretend that it was no more than a tragic accident and to cover up for one another.

“What is clear is that Alfie did not have the quiet death you tried to portray: a death in which he had an epileptic fit and gently fell asleep in the bath.

“His death was violent and brutal.”