Home / Sources / Domestic Homicide Reviews / Rotherham · Sep 2023
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

Rotherham review

CSP: Rotherham Published: September 2023 Year of death: 2016 Extracted: 12 recs

Statutory domestic homicide review under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. Source: Home Office DHR Library.

Original review (PDF) ↗ Source: Home Office DHR Library

Summary AI-generated

Verify against the full report at the source link
The review found that the victim, despite a history as a perpetrator, was not consistently identified as a victim of domestic abuse, especially as relationship dynamics evolved. Agencies missed opportunities for comprehensive risk assessments, with anti-social behaviour masking abuse and critical information not always being shared effectively across services.

Home Office classifications

34 tags

Source-supplied classifications used by the Home Office to catalogue this review.

  • Victim - alcohol misuse
  • Victim - substance misuse
  • Victim - mental ill health
  • Victim - anxiety
  • Victim - depression
  • Victim - self harm
  • Victim - suicidal thoughts
  • Victim - suicide attempts
  • Victim - had been a victim of an abuser before
  • Children - present at homicide (including adult children)
  • Children - removed into care
  • Perpetrator - case heard in court
  • Perpetrator - issued life sentence
  • Perpetrator - substance misuse
  • Perpetrator - anxiety
  • Perpetrator - depression
  • Perpetrator - known to agencies as a domestic abuse perpetrator
  • Perpetrator - known to police as a domestic abuse perpetrator
  • Perpetrator - known to idva or other domestic abuse support service as a domestic abuse perpetrator
  • Perpetrator - attended drug and alcohol services
  • Aggravating factors - separation
  • Aggravating factors - coercive or controlling behaviour
  • Aggravating factors - psychological or emotional abuse
  • Aggravating factors - economic abuse
  • DHR process - family consulted about terms of reference
  • DHR process - police recommendations
  • DHR process - health services recommendations
  • DHR process - idva or other domestic abuse support service recommendations
  • DHR process - housing services recommendations
  • DHR process - community safety partnership recommendations
  • DHR process - identification of risk recommendation themes
  • DHR process - training recommendation themes
  • DHR process - record keeping recommendation themes
  • DHR process - other recommendation themes

Extracted recommendations

12 recommendations pulled from the report · 3 matched to organisations in the index

Recommendation 1

Addressed to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Housing Services and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Anti-Social Behaviour Unit

Undertake a programme of refresher training for Housing and ASB staff, focussing on good practice, referral pathways and the specific learning points from the domestic homicide review.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 1

Addressed to South Yorkshire Police

Officers to provide a more comprehensive narrative when completing risk assessments on victims who are reluctant to engage.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 1

Addressed to South Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company

To introduce vulnerability assessment as part of the risk assessment process and launch victim safety planning for all vulnerable service users.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 1

Addressed to The Safer Rotherham Partnership

That the Safer Rotherham Partnership satisfies itself that its constituent agencies understand that perpetrators of domestic abuse can also be victims and take this into account when completing risk assessments.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 2

Addressed to Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Team

Review the Independent Domestic Violence Advocacy Service’s handbook.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 2

Addressed to Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Housing Services and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council Anti-Social Behaviour Unit

That the learning points from the DHR are also incorporated into the operational principles and practices of the neighbourhood working model being implemented in Rotherham.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 2

Addressed to South Yorkshire Police

That officers should be alter to tangential indicators of domestic abuse when dealing with what appear to be anti-social behaviour incidents.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 2

Addressed to South Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company

To provide practitioner refresher briefings for working with substance misusers

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 2

Addressed to The Safer Rotherham Partnership

That the Safer Rotherham Partnership ensures that agencies complete the recommendations they made for this review.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗

Recommendation 3

Addressed to South Yorkshire Community Rehabilitation Company

To review and address client services and needs during information communications technology downtime and responsible officer absences.

Verified wording from the published review · Original review (PDF) ↗