Alfie Steele: Schoolboy heard screaming to be let inside 18 months before he was found dead, court hears

A schoolboy was heard screaming and begging to be let inside in haunting footage filmed by a neighbour 18 months before he was found dead in a bath, a court heard.

The voice on the harrowing video - released by the CPS after it was played to a jury - is said to be that of Alfie Steele. His mum Carla Scott, 35, and her partner Dirk Howell, 41, are on trial at Coventry Crown Court over the nine-year-old boy’s death. They both deny murder.

A distressing minute-long clip, filmed in August 2019, captures Alfie’s piercing screams and finishes with him repeatedly shouting: "Let me in, let me in". A neighbour told the court he had been locked out of the house and wasn’t let back in for up to half an hour.

In a 999 call played to the jury, one neighbour said he could hear a child whimpering at the property in Droitwich, Worcs., at 5.31am on April 4, 2020, Daniel Grindrod told the operator he had heard "banging and crashing" coming from the house. In the call he said: "It sounded like a child in distress, a child whimpering - crying, pleading almost." He adds: "I can’t ignore this. He was crying to be let in, it’s pretty horrendous."

Scott and Howell are accused of murdering Alfie and carrying out child cruelty, as well as other charges. The court heard previously that Alfie had 50 injuries all over his body when he was found dead in a bath at his home , in February 2021. It’s alleged that he was subjected to a cruel and "sinister" regime by Scott and Howell and was beaten to death.

Jurors were told the pair 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." Last week a paediatrician said some bruises suggested he had been "manhandled" and others marks on Alfie’s buttocks were from being kicked by an adult.

Dr Sue Zeitlin told a jury that some of the injuries suggested they were from an "adult who had lost control". Alfie had been under a social services protection plan and legal discussions had taken place on whether to remove him from Scott’s care. It came after teachers raised concerns that Alfie was "constantly hungry" at school in the months before his death.

Scott, of Vashon Drive, Droitwich, denies murder, manslaughter, causing or allowing the death of Alfie and child cruelty offences against Alfie and other children. Howell, of Princip Street, Birmingham, admitted child cruelty against other children before his trial, but denies murder, manslaughter, cruelty or causing or allowing the death of Alfie. The trial continues.