Domestic abuse

When this happens, the law says that professionals involved in the case must review what happened so that we can identify what needs to be changed and reduce the risk of it happening again in the future.

The Home Office has published guidance on when we need to set up a domestic homicide review and how to do it. This is explained on the Home Office website. Domestic homicide reviews are not inquiries into how the victim died or into who is responsible. The purpose of a domestic homicide review (DHR) is to understand where there are lessons to be learned and make recommendations to prevent future homicides.

When a homicide takes place in Waltham Forest, the police will immediately inform the Chair of the Community Safety Partnership. The Community Safety Partnership will decide whether a DHR will take place and if so, appoint an independent chair and report writer. Panel members can include representatives from Waltham Forest Police, Adult Social Care, Children Social Care, Housing providers, Domestic, Sexual Violence specialist services, North East London Foundation Trust (NELFT), Barts Health and/or Waltham Forest Clinical Commissioning Group.

All of the information shared from the review is confidential until it has been approved by the Home Office and then published.

Family members, friends and colleagues of the victim are important to the DHR process. The independent chair will aim to make contact with friends and family, to enable them to inform the review and build a complete view of the victim.

This report is for the publication of the domestic homicide review for Tekia  (not his real name). This was the first domestic homicide review in Waltham Forest following the implementation of the statutory guidelines in April 2011.

This report was sent to the Home Office for approval in September 2015. In December 2015 we heard back that the report has been approved through the Quality Assurance panel.

Executive summary of the report into the death of Tekia (PDF file)

The DHR panel wishes to express its condolences to the children, family members and friends. May he rest in peace.

• HM Government: Domestic Homicide Review