Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs)
Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs) enable lessons to be learned from homicides where a person is killed as a result of domestic violence and abuse.
The main purposes of DHRs is to:
- prevent domestic violence and homicide, and to
- ensure that abuse is identified and responded to effectively at the earliest opportunity, improving service responses for victims through a coordinated multi-agency approach.
When should DHRs happen?
A domestic homicide is defined to have occurred when the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect by:
- a person they were related to
- a person they were, or had been in an intimate personal relationship with, or
- a member of the same household.
If one or more of these criteria are met, a review should be undertaken, even if a suspect is not charged with an offence or they are tried and acquitted. Reviews are not about who is culpable.
Any professional or agency can make a referral for a DHR following a death thought to be related to domestic abuse. To make a referral please email the Leicester Community Safety Partnership SLPOffice@leicester.gov.uk.
Make a referral for a Domestic Homicide Review
If you believe a death might fit the criteria for a Domestic Homicide Review, you are able to make a referral that will be considered by the Leicester Community Safety Partnership's DHR subgroup, which meets every month. Please telephone 0116 454 3820 to request a blank referral form.
Leicester Domestic Homicide Review data summary
DHR reports seek to improve the transparency of processes in place across all agencies to protect victims, and to restore public confidence. Reports are available online for between one and three years, after which time they are removed.
There have been 19 DHRs commissioned by the Leicester Community Safety Partnership since 2011. Ten have been published to date. Reports are published at the bottom of this page. This annual summary was compiled on 2 March 2023.
| Type of violence | Female | Male | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) | 10 | 2 | 12 |
| Familial | 3 | 2 | 5 |
| Other | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| Ethnicity of victim | Female | Male | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| White British | 3 | 3 | 6 |
| White Other | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Asian/Asian British Indian | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Asian/Asian British Pakistani | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Asian/Asian British Other | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| Black/Black British African | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Black/Black British Caribbean | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| Mixed/Multiple Ethnic White and Asian | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Unknown | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| Age of victim | Female | Male | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 21-30 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 31-40 | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 41-50 | 4 | 1 | 5 |
| 51-60 | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 60+ | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Children living in household | Total |
|---|---|
| Under 18 | 10 |
| Over 18 | 1 |
Recommendations arising from Leicester DHRs (2011-2020 data)
The top three themes of the 35 recommendations emerging from the reviews completed to date are:
- the need to raise more awareness of services and of domestic abuse
- the need for local practitioners and members of the community to have training around domestic abuse
- the need to review the operational guidelines and develop them further.
There have been several changes to practice, directly as a result of learning from local DHRs, including:
- the local self-help guides for depression and anger management now provide a prompt on the impact for friends and family
- a care pathway has been developed for acutely intoxicated people who exhibit signs of a mental health issue
- the creation of a multi-agency group to identify and meet the needs of adults with frequent needs for a range of services
- routine enquiries about domestic abuse are embedded in substance misuse services
- the process for making and receiving Multi-agency Risk Assessment Conference (MARAC) referrals has been strengthened.
DHR reports
In line with the statutory guidance around quality assurance, each community safety partnership should publish the reports (overview report and executive summary report) and final letter from the Home Office Quality Assurance Panel on its website. Please find these below.
The reports below contain information from the DHR in the cases of 'John', ‘Dave’, 'Hanita', 'Grace' and 'Wesley'. The names of individuals involved in each case have been anonymised in order to protect the identity of the victim, perpetrator, relevant family members, staff and others, and to comply with the Data Protection Act 1998.
Protocol
The protocol guidance should be seen as a local summary of the Home Office document Multi-agency Statutory Guidance for the Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews (PDF), issued in December 2016. The two documents should be consulted together to provide the most complete view of the overall process.
Learn more about DHRs
For further information on our learning events around DHRs please send us an email to SLPOffice@leicester.gov.uk.
Free resources
Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) have produced a range of free resources for children and young people, carers, and professionals who are working with someone affected by domestic abuse or coping with trauma. Go to the resources website.
Privacy notices
We have two separate privacy notices; one for ‘relevant’ people; and another for ‘general’ people. This helps us only collect the personal data that is needed for the purposes of the review. Find out more about our DHR privacy notices.