A police force that repeatedly met the family of a nine-year-old boy who was later murdered in his home “did not sufficiently train frontline officers to identify child abuse”, a police watchdog report said.
Alfie Steele was killed by his mother and her partner at their home in Droitwich, Worcestershire, in 2021 and the pair were jailed two years later.
Twenty cases when West Mercia Police had contact with Alfie and the couple were examined by the Independent Office for Police Conduct (IOPC) which concluded there was “no indication of misconduct” by any officer.
Alfie’s grandfather Paul Scott said: “We see nothing in the report that shows any change, it is a waste of public money.”