
A nine-year-old boy died after being “repeatedly assaulted, beaten” and “held” in a cold bath as punishment by his mother and her fiance, a court has heard.
Alfie Steele, who was covered in bruises, had been subjected to a cruel and “sinister” regime of correction by his mother, Carla Scott, and her partner, Dirk Howell, both of whom are accused of the little boy’s murder, the court was told.