You are here: Home | Swindon CSP | Domestic Abuse

Domestic Abuse

Swindon Domestic Homicide Review

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