Alfie Steele: Mother and partner jailed over killing of nine-year-old boy
Alfie Steele was killed six months after a 999 call from a neighbour warning police the couple were "doing something bad to their kid in the bath". A multi-agency review into the safeguarding of the child is under way.
Thursday 15 June 2023 16:05, UK
A mother and her partner have been jailed for the killing of the woman's nine-year-old son who sustained 50 injuries all over his body.
Carla Scott, 35, was sentenced at Coventry Crown Court to a total of 27 years for manslaughter and child cruelty, but must serve a minimum of 17, and her partner Dirk Howell, 41, was sentenced to a minimum 32 years for the murder of Scott's son, Alfie.
The boy died after being repeatedly beaten and held in a cold bath as part of a "sinister" regime of punishment inflicted on him and was found submerged in a bath in Droitwich, Worcestershire, in February 2021.
Alfie's many injuries included bruises all over his body and signs he had been deprived of oxygen.
Passing sentence on the pair, 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."
Howell was found guilty of his murder on Tuesday, while Scott was found guilty of manslaughter but cleared of his murder.
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The six-week trial was told Scott and career criminal Howell tried to cover up the killing by delaying calling 999 after Alfie was either drowned, asphyxiated or went into cardiac arrest.
The court heard Alfie, who was found lifeless with a body temperature of 23C, may have been put back in a warm bath as the couple tried to pass off the murder as an accidental drowning.
During the trial, it emerged that the child was killed six months after a 999 call from a neighbour, warning police the couple were "doing something bad to their kid in the bath".
At the time of Alfie's death in February 2021, Scott was the subject of a social services plan designed to protect the boy, with one of the rules being that Howell was not allowed to stay overnight at her house.
The jury heard Scott "continuously" flouted the rule - allowing Howell to stay over and subject Alfie to beatings using a belt and a flip-flop.
Review under way
Concerns about Alfie had been raised with the authorities on many occasions and police and social workers had been involved.
An independent child safeguarding practice review is under way to establish whether more could have been done to protect the child.
On 18 February 2021, Scott dialled 999 at 2.30pm and told the operator her son was not breathing and that he had fallen asleep in their bath.
She also claimed that Alfie had bumped his head the previous day in a cycling accident, but medically trained police officers and paramedics noticed water in his airways.
Alfie was taken by ambulance to Worcestershire Royal Hospital but despite efforts to revive him, he was pronounced dead around an hour later.