About this page. This page summarises a Domestic Homicide Review published in the Home Office DHR Library. The full report is available at the source link below. Victim and perpetrator names are not included in extracted summaries on this page.
Source · Domestic Homicide Review
Birmingham review
CSP: BirminghamPublished: April 2023Year of death: 2013Extracted: 8 recs
Statutory domestic homicide review under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Source: Home Office DHR Library.
Agencies failed to consistently identify and respond to escalating domestic abuse, particularly its coercive and controlling nature, due to communication barriers, inadequate risk assessment, and insufficient information sharing. Missed opportunities to safeguard the victim and children were compounded by a focus on immediate physical threat over patterns of control.
Home Office classifications
29 tags
Source-supplied classifications used by the Home Office to catalogue this review.
Victim - pregnancy
Victim - had been a victim of an abuser before
Victim - immigration involvement
Children - under 18 shared parental responsibility (victim and perpetrator)
Children - under 18 shared parental responsibility (between victims)
Children - under 18 shared parental responsibility (between perpetrators)
Children - living with victim (including adult children)
Child - primary address same as victim
Perpetrator - case heard in court
Perpetrator - issued life sentence
Perpetrator - known to agencies as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - known to police as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - known to social services as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - known to others as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - known to friends as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - known to family as a domestic abuse perpetrator
Perpetrator - immigration involvement
Aggravating factors - separation
Aggravating factors - coercive or controlling behaviour
Aggravating factors - psychological or emotional abuse
Aggravating factors - physical abuse
Aggravating factors - economic abuse
DHR process - family supported by expert specialist advocate
DHR process - community safety partnership recommendations
DHR process - technology systems recommendation themes
DHR process - identification of risk recommendation themes
DHR process - policy recommendation themes
DHR process - awareness raising recommendation themes
The Community Safety Partnership should consider whether policy and practice guidance in relation to inquiry and assessment relating to domestic abuse gives sufficient attention to professional mind-set and victim behaviour.
The Community Safety Partnership should review the effectiveness of strategies for communicating and signposting victims of domestic abuse to specialist advice and support to respond to victims and children who have experienced domestic abuse.
The Community Safety Partnership should ensure that information is submitted on the implementation of the action plan submitted to the domestic homicide review by the early years and education services.
The Community Safety Partnership should ensure that revisions to the S11 and S175 audit safeguarding children audit tool incorporates learning from this and other domestic homicide reviews.
The Community Safety Partnership should ensure that the review of the provision of advice services in the city is fully sighted on the difficulties that this victim of domestic violence experienced in obtaining an appointment for advice services. Future plans arising from both the review of advice services and the review of domestic violence should secure a clear pathway for advice and support for domestic violence victims.
The Community Safety Partnership should seek further information from the statutory director for children’s services regarding the capacity of the service to participate in statutory reviews.
The Community Safety Partnership should request information from agencies about the extent to which they rely on e-learning or similar strategies for raising awareness and knowledge of staff regarding domestic abuse.