Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews

Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews (DARDRs) (formerly known as Domestic Homicide Reviews (DHRs)) were established on a statutory basis under section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act (2004) in April 2011.

The Home Office guidance identifies that any incident of domestic violence and abuse which results in a death of the victim requires a DARDR.

In Wiltshire the Community Safety Partnership has the statutory responsibility for commissioning a DARDR when someone aged 16 or over dies as a result of violence, abuse or neglect by a relative, household member or someone they’ve been in an intimate relationship with.

The DARDR will look at the circumstances that led to the death. This will help professionals understand what happened and what needs to change to reduce the risk of something like this happening again. They are not inquiries into who is culpable, this is for the court or coroner to decide.

The Partnership Practice Review group carries out all reviews in Wiltshire on behalf of the SVPP. For more information about how we carry out case reviews in Wiltshire go to Learning from Case Reviews.

Any agency can make a referral for consideration of a DARDR.  Referrals should made to the Partnership Practice Review Group using the PPRG referral form 

Published DARDRs (DHRs) and Local Learning Reviews

The Home Office requires that local areas publish anonymised reports and findings from DARDRs. We also publish learning from local learning reviews relating to cases where domestic abuse has been a significant theme.

Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership published a Domestic Homicide Review for Ellie and Executive Summary.

Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership published a Domestic Homicide Review Executive Summary for Adult P in October 2017 – 007_DHR

Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership published a Domestic Homicide Review Executive Summary for Adult B in June 2017 – 006_DHR

Adult R – this learning briefing is to help professionals better identify and understand coercive control, including recognising when you are at risk of being coerced or controlled by a service user, and what you can do.

Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership published a Domestic Homicide Review Executive Summary for Emily in June 2023. A 7 minute briefing designed to disseminate the learning from the Review within your agencies can be downloaded here. Key Findings and recommendations from the review can be downloaded here.  There is a pre-recorded webinar to share the learning from this review, which is available to view as a learning module via our Learning Management System, Virtual College. Links to register or login to Virtual College can be found on our Booking Training page.

Wiltshire Community Safety Partnership published a Domestic Homicide Review for Krystyna and Elzbieta (Salisbury DHR). Alongside the Executive summary, a 7 minute briefing and slide set designed to disseminate the learning from the Review has also been published. The Executive summary has been translated into Polish and can be found here. There is a pre-recorded webinar to share the learning from this review, which is available to view as a learning module via our Learning Management System, Virtual College. Links to register or login to Virtual College can be found on our Booking Training page.

If you would like to access DHR Reports before 2017 please contact SVPP@wiltshire.gov.uk