Agenda item

Report of  the Strategic Director, Communities and Environment

The Committee received a report which provided an overview of Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHR) and provides an update on the DHRs currently being undertaken in Gateshead as well as the national and regional context.

In the 5 years, since the statutory requirement for local areas to conduct a DHR was introduced, there have been more than 400+ DHRs carried out and completed throughout England and Wales.

Northumbria Police commissioned a Problem Profile in order to assess the key pre-cursors and drivers of DHRs within the local area (over the period 1 April 2011 to 30 September 2016). Key issues identified as part of this profile were:

·         51 homicides took place in the force area, of which 24 were deemed to be domestic related, and met the criteria for a DHR to be undertaken.

·         There is a clear link between domestic homicide, population density and deprivation and is caused by a combinat8ion of social economic factors (such as employment, lifestyle and location) – of which these factors are more prevalent in urban locations.

·         Similar to national trends, the risk of domestic homicide is much greater for females and the most common form of killing is stabbing.

·         32% or victims were subject to incidents of domestic abuse prior to the murder taking place, which may indicate the extent of under-reporting of domestic abuse incidents to the Police.

·         60% of perpetrators had previous convictions – many involving offences for violence and 29% had drug and/or alcohol markers attached.

·         A combination of pre-cursor factors such as physical or mental health, relationship breakdown and financial problems (including unemployment) contributed to domestic homicides in Northumbria.

Within Gateshead, a total of 2 DHRs have been completed successfully:

·         Adult A – was finalised in September 2011 which related to the death of a father from his son, and

·         Adult B – was finalised in August 2016 which related to the murder of a female from her current partner

Neither DHR found any evidence that there was any serious risk to the victim prior to death that should have been acted upon by any of the agencies. Each DHR identified a number of recommendations for improved practice; however, recognised that none of these would have helped to prevent the homicide from occurring.

From a Gateshead perspective, as a result of the DHR’s, we have implemented MASH (Multi-Agency Safeguarding Hub) and MATAC (Multi- Agency Tasking and Co-ordination) models to help address some of these pre-cursor factors. By sharing timely information, in a multi-agency setting, partners and services are able to intervene at an earlier opportunity and provide additional specialist support (e.g. via the Serial Victims Pilot)

The documents relating to the DHRs have been submitted to the Home Office DHR Quality Assurance Panel which assesses the quality of the Reviews – both of which were deemed to be ‘Adequate’ with only minor amendments required. Upon completion these documents have been published, as per the national guidelines.

There are currently two current DHRs under investigation in Gateshead which are yet to be finalised:

·         Adult C – relates to a homicide of a female in September 2015, which involved a French national and it is hoped the DHR will be concluded soon

·         Adult D – related to the murder of a female that took place in October 2016. The first panel meeting is due to take place in January 2017.

The refresh guidance, published by the Home Office in December 2016 placed a greater emphasis on ‘victim prominence’ within the process (including further interaction with the victims’ family members, friends and colleagues etc). It also includes an additional element, and states that where a victim takes their own life (through suicide) and the circumstances give rise to concern, for example it emerges that there was coercive controlling behaviour in the relationship, a DHR should be undertaken. Community Safety is currently drafting a process for when and how this should be completed, which will be shared with relevant Boards for endorsement in due course.

Gateshead Council has previously picked up the costs in relation to undertaking a DHR (which includes providing the co-ordination/administration elements of the process) with each DHR costing in region of £6-8k. An Options Paper has been produced for discussion at the Community Safety  Board to outline areas that could be applied to minimise future costs and to seek partner contributions.

RESOLVED - i)          that the information be noted

                        ii)         that the OSC agreed to receive regular updates on Domestic                                  Homicide Reviews