West Mercia Police Training Failures Precede Alfie Steele Murder

The Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) investigated West Mercia Police's handling of 20 welfare visits to the home of nine-year-old Alfie Steele before his death in 2021 from severe abuse by his mother and her partner. While the IOPC found no individual officer misconduct, it highlighted that frontline officers were insufficiently trained to identify child abuse and failed to speak to Alfie alone during visits, limiting their ability to assess his situation properly. The investigation revealed a lack of professional curiosity by some officers, who often accepted the mother's answers without further inquiry, despite reports of a threatening environment and concerns from neighbors. Although children’s services were notified following each police attendance, no effective measures were taken to remove Alfie from harm, partly due to the absence of enforceable orders to remove the abuser from the home. The IOPC recommended reflective practice for several officers to improve future handling of child welfare cases. Alfie's grandfather criticized the report as ineffective, stating it showed no meaningful change and was a waste of public money.