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

Portsmouth review

CSP: Portsmouth Published: March 2025 Year of death: 2021 Extracted: 6 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 a lack of consistent recognition and multi-agency response to the complex, bidirectional domestic abuse between the brothers and within the wider family, exacerbated by mental health issues, substance misuse, and housing instability. Missed opportunities for information sharing and tailored interventions were identified.

Extracted recommendations

6 recommendations pulled from the report

#	Recommendation	Addressed to
1	The Probation Service should investigate how to strengthen the links between MARAC and domestic abuse processes for those serving short periods in prison so that opportunities for interventions are not lost.	Probation Service
2	The Portsmouth Safeguarding Adults Board should strengthen the MARM processes and practice so that the MARM increases the likelihood of achieving positive outcomes for victims of domestic abuse in those case which might fall outside of other arrangements such as adult safeguarding, MAPPA or MARAC.	Portsmouth Safeguarding Adults Board
3	The DHR Author, the Portsmouth City Council Head of Service for Partnerships and Planning and the Portsmouth City Council Strategy and Partnership Manager to write to the Home Office to advise that homicides in the absence of coercion and control and power relationships do not fit easily within in the DHR process and definition of domestic abuse and for this to be considered when reviewing the guidance on DHRs.	DHR Author \| Portsmouth City Council \| Home Office
4	Each agency involved in this review should audit their approaches to cases of inter-familial domestic abuse to identify the extent to which adaptable models are used that respond to victims who have previously been identified as perpetrators and vice versa. The results of the audit could be used to identify further developments in, amongst others, processes, protocols and training.	Portsmouth Community Safety Partnership
5	The Probation Service should ensure that OASYS (Offender Assessment System) captures risks arising from arguments and problems with money and gambling and that these are recorded as possible triggers of further offending.	Probation Service
6	Stop Domestic Abuse to review its training in relation to the use of professional judgement for MARAC referrals.	Stop Domestic Abuse
Recommendations extracted from the published report. Source: Home Office DHR Library. View full report ↗