Alfie Steele: Mum and partner jailed for killing boy after cruel abuse | UK News
A mother and her partner found guilty of killing her nine-year-old son in the bath after months of brutal beatings and punishments have been jailed.
Alfie Steele was found unresponsive with 50 different injuries all over his body in February 2021.
He died after subjected to a cruel regime of abuse which included being whipped with belts or flip-flops and ‘other more sinister forms of punishment’ like being ‘dunked’ in a freezing bath.
Carla Scott, 35, was convicted of manslaughter and Dirk Howell, 41, was found guilty of murder following a trial at Coventry Crown Court.
Howell was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years at the same court, while Scott was locked up for 27 years.
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 Alfie 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’.
The caller told police it sounded like Alfie was ‘being hit and held under the water or something’ at his home in Vashon Drive.
At the time of Alfie’s death in February 2021, Scott was the subject of a social services plan designed to protect him, 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, as well as throwing cold water at him.
A multi-agency review is understood to be under way into the safeguarding of Alfie, whose neighbours contacted police on several occasions after filming him crying ‘let me in’ while in a garden, and seeing him being forced to ‘stand like a statue’ outside his home.
In his account to the jury, Howell claimed he had tried to revive Alfie by performing CPR, but CCTV showed him leaving the house before paramedics arrived and later attempting to board a train before he was arrested at Droitwich railway station.
During his evidence, Howell estimated he had spent a total of around 22 years in prison after committing dozens of previous offences, including battery, theft, burglary and drug-related charges.
Alfie’s mother dialled 999 at 2.30pm on February 18, telling the operator her son was not breathing and she was trying to resuscitate him.
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 warm his body and revive him he was pronounced dead around an hour later.
Scott had Alfie during a previous relationship which ended in 2017, in which children’s services also had involvement.
Alfie’s mother, who was ‘no stranger’ to social services and knew what was expected of her in terms of co-operating with them, met Howell in July 2019 and within six months they became engaged, the court heard.
After the verdict, the senior investigating officer who led the case, Detective Chief Inspector Leighton Harding, said: ‘Alfie suffered the most horrifying physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Scott and Howell.
‘It is unimaginable to consider the fear and distress Alfie must have felt during the events that led to his collapse and death in his home.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
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A mother and her partner found guilty of killing her nine-year-old son in the bath after months of brutal beatings and punishments have been jailed.
Alfie Steele was found unresponsive with 50 different injuries all over his body in February 2021.
He died after subjected to a cruel regime of abuse which included being whipped with belts or flip-flops and ‘other more sinister forms of punishment’ like being ‘dunked’ in a freezing bath.
Carla Scott, 35, was convicted of manslaughter and Dirk Howell, 41, was found guilty of murder following a trial at Coventry Crown Court.
Howell was jailed for life with a minimum term of 32 years at the same court, while Scott was locked up for 27 years.
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 Alfie 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’.
The caller told police it sounded like Alfie was ‘being hit and held under the water or something’ at his home in Vashon Drive.
At the time of Alfie’s death in February 2021, Scott was the subject of a social services plan designed to protect him, 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, as well as throwing cold water at him.
A multi-agency review is understood to be under way into the safeguarding of Alfie, whose neighbours contacted police on several occasions after filming him crying ‘let me in’ while in a garden, and seeing him being forced to ‘stand like a statue’ outside his home.
In his account to the jury, Howell claimed he had tried to revive Alfie by performing CPR, but CCTV showed him leaving the house before paramedics arrived and later attempting to board a train before he was arrested at Droitwich railway station.
During his evidence, Howell estimated he had spent a total of around 22 years in prison after committing dozens of previous offences, including battery, theft, burglary and drug-related charges.
Alfie’s mother dialled 999 at 2.30pm on February 18, telling the operator her son was not breathing and she was trying to resuscitate him.
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 warm his body and revive him he was pronounced dead around an hour later.
Scott had Alfie during a previous relationship which ended in 2017, in which children’s services also had involvement.
Alfie’s mother, who was ‘no stranger’ to social services and knew what was expected of her in terms of co-operating with them, met Howell in July 2019 and within six months they became engaged, the court heard.
After the verdict, the senior investigating officer who led the case, Detective Chief Inspector Leighton Harding, said: ‘Alfie suffered the most horrifying physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Scott and Howell.
‘It is unimaginable to consider the fear and distress Alfie must have felt during the events that led to his collapse and death in his home.’
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.
