Overview

• The IOPC found no individual officer misconduct but recommended that eight police constables and two PCSOs undertake reflective practice to examine their interactions with Alfie Steele.
• Investigators identified serious gaps in professional curiosity, with officers failing to speak to Alfie alone during any of the 20 welfare checks between 2018 and 2021.
• A 'climate of fear' in the Steele household, intensified by lockdown, restricted Alfie’s ability to seek help from authorities.
• Alfie endured years of abuse and neglect before his February 2021 death, leading to manslaughter and murder convictions in June 2023 for his mother Carla Scott and her partner Dirk Howell.
• West Mercia Police has overhauled child safeguarding procedures by training all staff on Alfie’s story and reviewing referral protocols to children’s services.