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

Oldham review

CSP: Oldham Published: October 2024 Year of death: 2021 Extracted: 10 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 highlights failures by legal professionals and the Family Court to identify and address the perpetrator's controlling behaviour and economic abuse during protracted divorce and financial remedy proceedings, which significantly impacted the victim's well-being and escalated risk.

Extracted recommendations

10 recommendations pulled from the report

#	Recommendation	Addressed to
1	The Home Office should request the Solicitors Regulation Authority to draw the findings from this DHR to the attention of ‘Resolution’ with a recommendation that the latter’s Domestic Abuse Toolkit be updated to:- (i) reinforce the learning around best practice that should be applied by family law practitioners to establish if their clients have been victims of any type of abuse and / or continue to be at risk of further abuse; (ii) to reflect the changes to the definition of domestic abuse introduced by the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 and provide additional guidance on how to recognise and respond to possible indicators of controlling behaviour and / or economic abuse; (iii) remind practitioners that any behaviour by a party in divorce and related proceedings that may reflect controlling behaviour and / or is causing economic abuse, needs to be addressed and brought to the attention of the court as early as possible; (iv) to expand the coverage of the circumstances where information can be shared without consent with signposting to the guidance on client confidentiality issued by the Solicitors Regulation Authority.	Home Office
10	The Domestic Abuse Partnership should give further consideration as part of the action plan to implement its communication strategy, as to how public awareness of coercive / controlling bahevious and economic abuse can be raised further, particularly through use of the ‘eggshells’ film.	Domestic Abuse Partnership
2	The Home Office should share the findings from this DHR with the Solicitors Regulation Authority so that the latter can consider whether additional guidance should be issued on the responsibilities of solicitors when dealing with cases involving domestic abuse having regard to the Domestic Abuse Act 2021, any relevant regulations, and the associated statutory guidance.	Home Office
3	The Home Office should take the necessary steps to:- (i) seek an amendment to Section 9(4)(a) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004 to extend the list of organisations required to contribute to DHRs to include all those organisations who are involved, whether directly or indirectly, in matters that come before criminal and civil courts, including the:- - Crown Prosecution Service; - HM Courts and Tribunals Service; - Legal Aid Board; - Solicitors Regulation Authority; - Bar Standards Board. (ii) Update Section 2 of the Multi-Agency Statutory Guidance for the Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews to include the above agencies in the list of those persons or bodies who have a duty to have regard to the Statutory Guidance as to the establishment and conduct of such reviews.	Home Office
4	The Home Office should approach the Ministry of Justice to request further exploration of the following issues:- (i) how any relevant findings and learning from the completion of DHRs should be brought to the attention of the Office of the President of the Family Division; (ii) the circumstances, and process through which there can be dialogue with the Family Court Judiciary at a national level to gain the latter’s perspectives on any general issues arising from the findings of domestic homicide reviews; (iii) whether consideration should be given to the President issuing Practice Guidance on how Family Courts should approach issues of controlling behaviour and / or economic abuse that are present in divorce and related family proceedings to embed the approach taken by the High Court Judge in the case of F v M (2021).	Home Office
5	The Home Office, in consultation with the Department of Health and Social Care, and the Department of Education, should request the Ministry of Justice to recommend to the Office of the President of the Family Division that consideration be given to updating and expanding the 2017 President’s Guidance on Judicial Co-operation with Serious Case Reviews to cover Domestic Homicide Reviews, Safeguarding Adult Reviews, Child Practice Reviews and Offensive Weapon Homicide Reviews.	Home Office
6	The Home Office should include signposting to any President’s Guidance issued on Judicial Co-operation with Domestic Homicide Reviews in the next update of the Home Office Multi-Agency Guidance for the Conduct of Domestic Homicide Reviews.	Home Office
7	The Oldham Community Safety Partnership should share the findings from this DHR with the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, and the Ministry of Justice, to highlight the impact for victims of domestic abuse who are unable to access legal aid, so that this can inform the ongoing review of civil legal aid.	Oldham Community Safety Partnership
8	The Home Office should update the Multi-Agency Guidance for the Conduct of DHRs to include signposting to the ‘Intimate Partner Homicide Timeline’, with a requirement that this is applied in the analysis of the circumstances in all future DHRs that involve intimate partner homicides. Where these type of DHRs conclude that the various stages in the ‘Timeline’ are not applicable to the circumstances of the case, the reasons must be included in the overview report.	Home Office
9	The Home Office should recommend to the Department of Health and Social Care, the Department of Education, and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE), that signposting to the ‘‘Intimate Partner Homicide Timeline’ is included in any guidance they issue covering the recognition and response to domestic abuse.	Home Office
Recommendations extracted from the published report. Source: Home Office DHR Library. View full report ↗