Mother and partner guilty of killing nine-year-old boy in bath

A mother and her partner have been convicted of killing her nine-year-old son in a bath after abusing him for months.

Alfie Steele was found unconscious in February 2021 at his home in Droitwich, Worcestershire.

After a six-week trial at Coventry Crown Court, Dirk Howell, 41, was found guilty of the young boy’s murder and his mother, Carla Scott, was convicted of manslaughter after jurors acquitted her of Alfie’s murder.

Jurors deliberated the case for 10 hours after weeks of harrowing evidence about the schoolboy’s final months and how he had suffered more than 50 injuries by the time he died.