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
Dorset review
CSP: Dorset
Published: June 2023
Year of death: 2016
Extracted: 24 recs
Statutory domestic homicide review under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Source: Home Office DHR Library.
View full report (PDF) ↗
Source: Home Office DHR Library
Summary
The review identified inconsistent risk assessment, particularly regarding perpetrator suicide threats and stalking, and inadequate information sharing between agencies. Failures in police response to the victim's calls and breaches of bail conditions, alongside insufficient victim support like not providing a replacement mobile phone, were also key concerns.
Extracted recommendations
| # | Recommendation | Addressed to |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership make use of this review as a case study to inform single and multi-agency training with a particular emphasis on understanding factors which increase the risk of homicide including threats of suicide by the perpetrator and attempts by the victim to end the relationship and the presence of stalking. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 10 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtain assurance from Dorset police that victims of domestic abuse are always promptly provided with information about alleged perpetrator bail conditions. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| 11 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtain assurance from Dorset Police that any breach of pre-charge bail conditions by suspected perpetrators of domestic abuse will always be always dealt with effectively in order to safeguard victims. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| 12 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtains assurance from all partner agencies that they fully incorporate a whole family approach to their domestic abuse policies. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 13 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership emphasises the responsibility of professionals for addressing domestic abuse concerns when the learning from this case is disseminated. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 14 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership assess the adequacy of the support available to adults, young people and children affected by a domestic homicide of a family member or friend and raise any concerns with relevant agencies. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 2 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership shares this DHR report with NHS England and Dorset CCG as commissioners and Dorset HealthCare NHS Trust as providers of the custody nurse service (formally known as the Criminal Justice and Liaison Service) so that they can consider the learning from this case in the further development of that service. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | NHS England | Dorset CCG | Dorset HealthCare NHS Trust |
| 3 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtain assurance that the Public Protection Notice (PPN) process enables a broader assessment to be carried out which includes the identification of any care and support needs the person may have. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 4 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtains assurance that Dorset police make use of intelligence about a perpetrator’s previous behaviour in assessing the risk that perpetrator may present to a current victim. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| 5 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtain assurance from Dorset Police that they reassess risk to the victim at point at which a suspected domestic abuse perpetrator is granted bail. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| 6 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership works with other relevant partnership boards to agree a standard process for sharing information about risk through the SCARF (now PPN) process. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 7 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtains assurance from partner agencies that they have systems in place to assure themselves that their staff comply with domestic abuse policies. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership |
| 8 | That the Dorset Community Safety Partnership seeks assurance from Dorset Police that the Niche system enables the police to effectively flag cases involving victims of domestic abuse. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| 9 | That Dorset Community Safety Partnership obtain assurance from Dorset Police that they have fully complied with the IPCC recommendation that victims of domestic abuse are not left without an ability to make emergency calls. | Dorset Community Safety Partnership | Dorset Police |
| DCCG1 | To continue to raise awareness of domestic abuse in primary care as per the Royal College of General Practitioners Guidance for General Practices- Responding to domestic abuse. | NHS Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group |
| DHC1 | To improve the Community Mental Health Team (CMHT) awareness of the support and advice available from the Safeguarding Adults team. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC2 | Strengthen the record keeping practices to ensure all notes are validated in a timely fashion and safeguarding discussions are appropriately recorded. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC3 | Criminal Justice Liaison and Diversion Service (CJLDS) to identify and record incident numbers to promote information sharing with the police. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC4 | To explore the possibility of providing e-learning on Domestic Abuse for all staff members. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC5 | Safeguarding Children’s level 3 training to be undertaken by all CMHT staff. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC6 | CJLDS to review screening of vulnerable people associated to the patient on initial assessment and record discussion held with the police. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC7 | CJLDS to review and screen court lists for victims of crime and ascertain whether they are open to DHC services. | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DHC8 | To improve the CMHT awareness of the support and advice available from the Trauma Evaluation and Response Team (TEaR) | Dorset HealthCare University NHS Foundation Trust |
| DP5 | Dorset Police to develop a flagging/review process for domestic abuse incidents featuring this threat which will prompt a review of the threat. | Dorset Police |
| Recommendations extracted from the published report. Source: Home Office DHR Library. View full report ↗ | ||