Domestic homicide reviews (DHR)
A Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) occurs when someone aged 16 or over dies due to suspected domestic abuse or neglect by a family member, intimate partner, or household member.
In Wakefield, the police notify the Community Safety Partnership (CSP). The CSP are then responsible for conducting a review. It is important to remember:
- this does not replace any inquest or enquiries into the death
- a DHR does not investigate how the victim died or who is to blame. That is a matter for the coroners’ and criminal courts to determine
- DHR’s are not a part of any disciplinary enquiry or process. If information found in the review suggests disciplinary action is needed, then the agency concerned will be told. They will then follow their own internal disciplinary procedures
- not all cases will be suitable for a domestic homicide review. The chair of the Community Safety Partnership will decide based on government guidance
Domestic Homicide Review (DHRs) came into effect on 13 April 2011. They were established under Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Adults Act (2004).
Purpose of a Domestic Homicide Review
The purpose of DHRs is to:
- establish what lessons are to be learned from the domestic homicide
- this includes the way local professionals and organisations work, individually and together, to safeguard victims
- identify clearly what those lessons are both within and between agencies.
- it will also work out how and within what timescales they will be acted on, and what is expected to change as a result
- apply lessons learned to how services work including making changes to policies and procedures
- prevent domestic violence homicide and improve service responses for all domestic violence
How we publish our reviews
We follow guidance by the UK Home Office. This includes publishing an overview report and executive summary for each review. Before being published they must be sent to the Home Office’s quality assurance group.
These documents set out the context in which a domestic abuse related death occurs. It then makes recommendations for services to improve practice.
We remove domestic homicide reviews from this site two years after they are published.
Government policies and guidance
- Domestic homicide reviews: statutory guidance
- Domestic violence and abuse: how to get help
- Domestic homicide reviews: key findings from research
Domestic Homicide Reviews
Reviews when published will be available here. All victims are given a pseudonym to protect their identity and reports may be redacted.
Mary - Deceased 2022
History: Mary was a 39-year-old woman with three teenage children. She had been in a relationship with her partner for about eight years. Mary took her own life in December 2022; she had left messages evidencing a link between her death and domestic abuse.
Topics: Physical and controlling abuse