Services rung 60 times before boy’s murder

POLICE and social services were called more than 60 times over concerns about a nine-year-old boy murdered by his mother and her partner.

A review of social services and police contact with Alfie Steele, of Droitwich, Worcestershire found that he was classed as “safe and well” after home visits when he was not spoken to.

Alfie died in February 2021 after his head was repeatedly held under the water in a bath, following months of “sadistic” cruelty and “torture” which left him with more than 50 injuries.

A trial at Coventry Crown Court was told that 999 calls made by neighbours in April, May and August 2020 had supplied details of Alfie’s ordeal, including a call saying it sounded like he was “being hit and held under the water”. A BBC investigation found that Worcestershire county council was contacted 36 times between 2018 and 2020 by people concerned about Alfie’s welfare. West Mercia Police were contacted 28 times during the same three years.

Alfie’s mother Carla Scott, 35, was jailed in June 2023 for 27 years for man- slaughter, and her partner, Dirk Howell, 41, was ordered to serve life with a minimum term of 32 years for murder.

A Child Safeguarding Practice Review by the Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership (WSCP) published yesterday highlighted a string of errors and missed opportunities from professionals.

It said that they were involved with the family “over an extended period of time” but had placed too much reliance on Alfie himself to share “concerns and evidence that he was being abused and harmed”. “He was consistently asked if he had any worries, whether he liked Dirk Howell and what had happened in the context of allegations of abuse and aggression,” the review said.

It found that staff were “often hampered by two adults who sought to lie and cover up what was happening”.

Alfie, 9, suffered from ‘sadistic’ torture which left him with more than 50 injuries