Domestic Violence
Reviews
Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) came into effect on 13 April 2011. They were established on a statutory basis under Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Adults Act (2004).
The Swindon Community Safety Partnership has the responsibility for establishing domestic homicide reviews within Wiltshire.
Definition and Purpose
A ‘Domestic Homicide Review’ refers to a review of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has or appears to have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by: -
- a person whom he/she was related or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or
- a member of the same household
The purpose of a DHR is to:
- establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide regarding the way in which local professionals and organisations work individually and together to safeguard victims;
- identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies, how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result;
- apply those lessons to service responses including changes to policies and procedures as appropriate; and
- prevent domestic violence homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence victims and their children through improved intra and inter-agency working.
The aim in publishing these reviews is to restore public confidence and improve transparency of the processes in place, across all agencies, to protect victims.
Following the completion of a domestic homicide review and approval from the Home Office Quality Assurance Panel; Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership are required to publish the anonymised executive summary and action plans
Multi-agency statutory guidance for the conduct of domestic homicide reviews
Published Reviews
Swindon Community Safety Partnership has published the Executive Report for the domestic homicide reviews conducted in Swindon
Review for the death of Tara on 23rd March 2014
Following the death of Tara on 23rd March 2014, the Swindon Community Safety Partnership commissioned a domestic homicide review to review the circumstances surrounding her death.
The review was undertaken to examine the role of the agencies involved with Tara and Jonathan, with a view to learning lessons from the case and to alter practice where needed in order to prevent future similar tragedies occurring. It is carried out in accordance with the Home Office guidance and section 9 (3) of the Domestic Violence Crime and Victims Act 2004 and the Health Service Guidance 94(27) (as amended).
In the time since the review commenced many of the actions identified in the report have been progressed by individual agencies and the Partnership.
In line with the Home Office guidance (April 2011, revised August 2013), the decision has been made locally by the Swindon Community Safety Partnership to publish the Domestic Homicide Review Executive Summary. This report has been authorised for publication by the Home Office Quality Assurance (QA) Panel.
The letter of approval stated;
“In terms of the assessment of reports the QA Panel judges them as either adequate or inadequate. The Panel noted ……………this was a thorough review to which a significant number of agencies had contributed and commended your efforts in engaging with members of the victims family, friends and work colleagues. The result is a clear, well-written report with a sensitive tribute.. I am pleased to inform you that the Panel has judged this report as adequate.
The Executive Report and supporting reports are available below.
