Worcester County Council says lessons have been learned from the murder of Alfie Steel

Council bosses have learned lessons from the murder of Alfie Steele.

The nine-year-old died at his home in Droitwich in February 2021 after months of cruelty and abuse from his mother Carla Scott and her partner Dirk Howell.

Couple They were convicted last Juneand the review highlighted a number of missed opportunities for professionals to protect Alfie.

At Thursday’s Worcestershire County Council cabinet meeting, chief executive Paul Robinson said hundreds of staff had taken part in webinars in response to the review.

“Alfie Steele is a terrible moment for this authority, for the county and for the community,” he said.

“But on the positive side, if there is one (thing), our guys have learned from it.

“They experienced it, they know what happened, we have examples and conclusions from the report that have been shared with our employees.”

Councilors heard from Steve Eccleston, independent chair of Worcestershire Safeguarding Children Partnership.

He said: “We have to be realistic here. We often ask our youngest, most inexperienced doctors, whether in social care, health or police, to go and deal with some of our most challenging adults in our communities – demanding, demanding, intimidating, included and able to avoid this type of control.

“A representative of the Probation Service told me that as a result of these webinars, challenges have arisen among professionals in a small number of cases, resulting in people who pose a risk to children being returned to prison.

“These are small numbers and anecdotal, but to me this is a provable result.”

Marc Bayliss, a councilor for the town of Bowbrook, which covers the area where Alfie lived, said he was pleased to hear the focus was on “real change rather than communicating details, as the vast majority of serious case studies follow the same path”.

He asked the safeguarding chairman what were the key differences that would emerge from the review.

Eccleston said: “The most important changes are not structural or procedural.

“They give practitioners the confidence to question their own initial thoughts and perceptions, as well as question what they are told and be more assertive when dealing with individuals.

“Let me give you a simple example from a review. When Alfie’s mother said “no, he’s not here” but he was reported to be home.

“Be confident enough to say, ‘we don’t actually believe you and we want to take it further.’”