Alfie Steele: Mother and partner convicted of killing nine-year-old boy after months of abuse
A mother and her partner have been convicted of killing the woman’s nine-year-old son who had 50 injuries all over his body at the time of his death.
Alfie Steele died after being repeatedly beaten and held in a cold bath as part of a “sinister” regime of punishment inflicted on him.
Dirk Howell, 41, was found guilty of murder and Carla Scott, 35, was convicted of manslaughter but found not guilty of murder at Coventry Crown Court.
The judge, Mr Justice Wall, remanded both defendants into custody to be sentenced at 11am on Thursday.
Alfie’s many injuries included bruises all over his body and signs he had been deprived of oxygen.
The trial heard that after his mother met Howell, Alfie “suffered assaults and cruelty, by being beaten, assaulted, punished with cold water and made to endure a life that no child should lead”.
On 18 February, 2021, Scott called 999 to report that her son wasn’t breathing. She told the call handler that Alfie had fallen asleep in the bath at their home in Droitwich, Worcestershire.
When two police officers arrived at 2.30pm, Howell was not at the house.
Scott told the officers that she had found Alfie “submerged”, adding he had previously “hit his head”.
By that stage Alfie was lifeless, not breathing and was already cold to touch – just six minutes after the 999 call.
During their trial, both defendants told jurors that Alfie was not “dunked” in a bath at his home as a punishment prior to his death.
Carla Scott has been convicted of the manslaughter of her son Alfie Steele and Dirk Howell has been convicted of his murder
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.
Scott lied to police that she had last seen Howell a couple of days before Alfie’s death. In fact, CCTV showed him running away from the house around the time the 999 call was made.
He was arrested a short time later as he tried to board a train at Droitwich station.
The trial heard both Scott and Howell thought it was acceptable to hit Alfie with “belts, or a slider, like a heavy-duty flip flop, and use other more sinister forms of punishment”.
This included “dunking” him “in cold baths whilst naked” or forcing Alfie to “stand outside, in the middle of the night and have cold water” thrown over him.
A recording made by a neighbour in which Alfie can be heard screaming “open the door” repeatedly after being locked out of the house was played to the trial.
Carla Scott speaks to paramedics
Concerns about Alfie had been raised with the authorities on many occasions and police and social workers had been involved.
In the year before Alfie’s death, neighbours had made a number of 999 calls.
On 4 April, 2020, neighbour Daniel Grindrod called to tell police “I’m hearing some really worrying noises from next door”, adding: “I’ve heard what sounds like a child in distress.”
The following day neighbours Graham and Rosemary Willetts called 999 to report “something very strange” about the house.
They called police again the next month and Mrs Willetts described seeing a boy in the garden being disciplined.
“He’s standing like a statue,” she said. Asked by the caller if they’d reported the family before, she said: “Yes, yes, this lad we believe is called Alfie.”
In August 2020, just over six months before Alfie died, next-door neighbour Gemma Allcott made a harrowing 999 call telling police: “It sounds like my neighbours are doing something bad to their kid in the bath, like they’re really hurting them.”
The caller told police it sounded like Alfie was “being hit and held under the water or something” at his home in Vashon Drive.
Social workers had put in place a protection plan that meant Howell was not allowed to stay overnight at the house, a rule the couple repeatedly flouted.
Social worker Hayley Waldron told the trial that in March 2020 there had been legal discussions over whether to remove Alfie from Scott’s care, but because Scott had been seen to be working with social workers at that stage it was deemed the situation did not cross that threshold.
An independent child safeguarding practice review is under way to establish whether more could have been done to protect Alfie.
When I got to Chequers on Sunday, the prime minister had clearly been up for most of the night and hitting the phones all morning with calls to fellow leaders in Europe and the Middle East, as he and others scrambled to try to contain a very dangerous situation.
His primary message was to try to reassure the public that the UK government was working to stabilise the region as best it could and press for a return to diplomacy.
But what struck me in our short interview was not what he did say but what he didn’t – what he couldn’t – say about the US strikes.
It was clear from his swerve on the question of whether the UK supported the strikes that the prime minister neither wanted to endorse US strikes nor overtly criticise President Donald Trump.
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Starmer reacts to US strikes on Iran
Instead, his was a form of words – repeated later in a joint statement of the E3 (the UK, Germany and France) – to acknowledge the US strikes and reiterate where they can agree: the need to prevent Iran having a nuclear weapon.
He also didn’t want to engage in the very obvious observation that President Trump simply isn’t listening to Sir Keir Starmer or other allies, who had been very publicly pressing for de-escalation all week, from the G7 summit in Canada to this weekend as European countries convened talks in Geneva with Iran.
Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer at the G7 in Canada last week. Pic: Reuters
It was only five days ago that the prime minister told me he didn’t think a US attack was imminent, when I asked him what was going on following President Trump’s abrupt decision to quit the G7 early and convene his security council at the White House.
When I asked him if he felt foolish or frustrated that Trump had done that and didn’t seem to be listening, he told me it was a “fast moving situation” with a “huge amount of discussions in the days since the G7” and said he was intensely pressing his consistent position of de-escalation.
What else really could he say? He has calculated that criticising Trump goes against UK interests and has no other option but to press for a diplomatic solution and work with other leaders to achieve that aim.
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What is Operation ‘Midnight Hammer’?
Before these strikes, Tehran was clear it would not enter negotiations until Israel stopped firing missiles into Iran – something Israel is still saying it is not prepared to do.
The US has been briefing that one of the reasons it took action was because it did not think the Iranians were taking the talks convened by the Europeans in Geneva seriously enough.
It is hard now to see how these strikes will not serve but to deepen the conflict in the Middle East and the mood in government is bleak.
Iran will probably conclude that continuing to strike only Israel in light of the US attacks – the first airstrikes ever by the US on Iran – is a response that will make the regime seem weak.
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What next after US-Iran strikes?
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But escalation could draw the UK into a wider conflict it does not want. If Iran struck US assets, it could trigger Article 5 of NATO (an attack on one is an attack on all) and draw the UK into military action.
If Iran chose to attack the US via proxies, then UK bases and assets could be under threat.
The prime minister was at pains to stress on Sunday that the UK had not been involved in these strikes.
Meanwhile, the UK-controlled airbase on Diego Garcia was not used to launch the US attacks.
There was no request to use the Diego Garcia base, the president moving unilaterally, underlining his disinterest in what the UK has to say.
The world is waiting nervously to see how Iran might respond, as the PM moves more military assets to the region while simultaneously hitting the phones.
The prime minister may be deeply opposed to this war, but stopping it is not in his gift.
UK
GPs can prescribe weight loss jabs on the NHS from today – but strict eligibility criteria in place
GPs will be able to prescribe weight loss jabs on the NHS from today.
About 220,000 people with the “greatest need” are set to receive Mounjaro – with strict criteria for the first year of the rollout.
Initially, only those with a body mass index of over 40 who have at least four other health problems linked to obesity will be eligible.
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Can you get pregnant when on weight loss drugs?
Some doctors have raised concerns about the additional workload this new programme will bring, while pharmacists fear it could lead to supply shortages.
While an estimated 1.5 million people are now taking weight loss drugs across the UK, they could previously only be accessed through specialist services or private prescriptions.
Dr Claire Fuller from NHS England said: “We urgently need to address rising levels of obesity and prioritise support for those who are experiencing severe ill health – and greater access to weight loss drugs will make a significant difference to the lives of those people.”
She added: “While not everyone will be eligible for weight loss drugs, it’s important that anyone who is worried about the impact of their weight on their health discusses the range of NHS support available with their healthcare professional.”
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Weight loss drugs ‘changing way we see obesity’
The chairwoman of the Royal College of GPs welcomed NHS England’s decision to pursue a phased rollout, and said current workloads must be factored in to ensure the jabs can be prescribed safely.
Professor Kamila Hawthorne went on to say: “While weight loss medications have a lot of potential benefits for patients who are struggling to lose weight and who meet all the clinical criteria for a prescription, they mustn’t be seen as a ‘silver bullet’ to aid weight loss.
“We also need to see a focus on prevention, stopping people becoming overweight in the first place so they don’t require a medical intervention later.”
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‘How I tried to get weight loss drugs’
Her remarks were echoed by the National Pharmacy Association’s chairman Olivier Picard, who says “prescribing these medications alone misses the point”.
He argued that they need to be part of a comprehensive strategy that includes lifestyle coaching, exercise and nutritional guidance – but many GPs currently “lack the bandwidth” to provide this support.
“As a result, we could end up in a situation where patients are prescribed the medication, lose weight, and then experience rebound weight gain once the course ends – simply because the foundational lifestyle changes weren’t addressed,” Mr Picard added.
Estimates suggest about 29% of the adult population is obese.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting says the government “is determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments to everyone who needs them, not just those who can afford to pay”.
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