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3rd May 2023
09:44am BST
A nine-year-old boy was beaten to death by his mum and her boyfriend after he was held in a cold bath and whipped with belts as punishment, a court was told.
Alfie Steele was discovered at the family home in Droitwich, Worcestershire, on February 18 last year and later died at Worcester Royal Hospital.
A court heard he been subjected to months of cruelty and a "sinister” regime of punishment at the hands of his mum Carla Scott, 35, and her fiancé, 41-year-old Dirk Howell.
The schoolboy was found with more than 50 injuries all over his body caused by "direct pressure” which left him "susceptible to drowning whilst unconscious."
Jurors were told the pair also 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."
On Tuesday, Scott and Howell went on trial at Coventry Crown Court accused of murder and causing or allowing the death of a child.
Opening the case, Michelle Heeley KC said: "This case is about the murder of a nine year old boy called Alfie Steele, who died after being beaten and deliberately put in a cold bath.
"The people we say are responsible for killing Alfie and inflicting cruelty on him are his mother, Carla Scott and her partner, Dirk Howell."
Heeley said Alfie had not "simply fallen asleep in a comfortable bath".
"He had been deliberately and repeatedly assaulted, beaten, and put into and held under a cold bath as a punishment, and that unlawful course of conduct, that unnecessary punishment, was carried out jointly by Carla Scott and Dirk Howell. "It was their actions that led to his death."
Heeley said, shortly before 2.30pm on the day Alfie died, his mother, Scott, called 999 requesting an ambulance and explaining that her son had "fallen asleep in the bath, had gone under the surface and though she had taken him out and was trying to resuscitate him, Alfie was not breathing".
She told the jury that both Howell and Scott thought it was acceptable to beat Alfie including with belts.
Heeley added neighbours had also witnessed Howell’s aggressive nature towards Alfie, watching him shout at the nine-year-old in the street.
Heeley added: "Carla Scott stood by and let it happen. She put her loyalty to her partner."
The jury heard when police arrived at the scene at Vashon Drive , Droitwich, officers noted that Alfie was lifeless already.
Heeley said: "He was not breathing and he was cold to the touch, so already cold just 6 minutes (after Carla Scott made a 999 call).
"She (Scott) told the police she had last seen him (Howell) a couple of days ago.
"That was a lie. In the first moments when her child was dead her first thought was to lie.
"Carla Scott’s pretence that Mr Howell had not been at the house but was coming over then was a lie. He had been at the house since the previous night, and Carla Scott lied to police to protect him."
Heeley told the jury that medical and other evidence will show Alfie died as a result of an "unlawful act by one, or both, of these defendants".
"He didn’t die of natural causes, he had bruises all over his body, and signs that he had been deprived of oxygen," she said.
Heeley continued: "The number and extent of the injuries to Alfie indicated a predominance of inflicted injury, that is, injury caused by someone else.
"In respect of the age of the injuries, it is very difficult to age bruises with any accuracy, but we will hear support for the contention that some may have been several days old, while others were more recent."
Heeley has said the prosecution anticipates both defendants will maintain neither of them bears any responsibility for Alfie’s death during the trial.
She said: "The prosecution suggest in the context of the evidence as a whole, those claims do not bear close scrutiny.
"That in fact they have both unlawfully assaulted Alfie, and it led to his death. Alfie died as a result of the deliberate and unlawful actions of Carla Scott and Dirk Howell and, together, they are guilty of his murder.”
Howell, of Newton, Birmingham, admits child cruelty against other children but denies murder, manslaughter, cruelty or causing or allowing the death of Alfie.
Scott, of Droitwich, denies murder, manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of Alfie and child cruelty offences against Alfie and other children.
