Long waits risk recommendations becoming irrelevant – charity
Delays over murder reviews are criticised
CRUCIAL domestic homicide reviews are taking up to SIX YEARS to complete in Birmingham, sparking criticism that the delays could make them “irrelevant”.
Birmingham Community Safety Partnership has commissioned 27 reports into the deaths of victims killed at the hands of partners or relatives since 2011.
But just ten of the statutory required investigations have been completed, with the longest delay being six years – despite a Government guideline of six months.
The long delays have been criticised by a domestic violence charity.
Nogah Ofer, from the Centre for Women’s Justice, said: “Long delays in producing domestic homicide reviews can mean that recommendations become irrelevant as procedures and guidances have changed in the meantime. We are also concerned that there is a lack of broader national lesson learning from official investigations such as domestic homicide reviews, inquests and investigations by the Independent Office of Police Conduct where women are killed by partners and ex-partners.
“Numerous recommendations are made in individual cases but these are not gathered centrally to feed into wider learning by public bodies.”
The Birmingham Community Safety Partnership is made up of representatives from agencies including police and the city council, which manages the organisation and publishes the anonymised reports on its website.
The longest outstanding report was commissioned on May 17, 2013. Another four have not been completed from 2014, three from 2015, one each from 2016 and 2017, and four from 2018. Three were commissioned in June 2019.
The reports are seen as vital by the Government as they can highlight missed opportunities and learnings that can help future victims.
One of the most recently published reports was into the murder of Luan Leigh at her Pype Hayes home by her obsessed husband Andrew.
Luan, 42, had asked the telecommunications manager for a separation in 2013. But the 48-year-old turned to murder in June the following year after spotting that the mumof-two had removed his photos from her bedroom.
The killer laced her tea with Nytol then choked her to death as she fell asleep. Leigh was jailed for a minimum of 25 years at a trial in December 2014.
But the Birmingham Community Safety Partnership report into the tragedy – in which Luan is called ‘Anna’ – was only recently published on the council website.
It said the homicide could not have been prevented, but added there had been missed opportunities for doctors to pick up on signs of domestic violence and coercive control in the relationship.
The report said: “There were several opportunities when professionals could have used opportunistic questioning to ask Anna about her relationship with her estranged husband.
“The school had the opportunity to ask her how she was when it became apparent that the couple had separated. The neighbourhood office, the GP and practice nurses could have questioned her about her relationship.”
The report concluded: “It was evident that the perpetrator had been controlling throughout their relationship and subsequent marriage.
“Despite this, the panel felt that this domestic homicide was neither predictable nor preventable.
“However, the panel thought that if Anna had a better understanding of coercive control, or had professionals questioned her further about her relationship, she may have understood better that his behaviour was controlling.
“She may then have sought help, which could have led to her seeking an injunction such as a non-molestation order.”
Recommendations included urging the Home Office and Birmingham Community Safety Partnership to launch an awareness campaign about coercive control and to highlight where victims can turn for help.
The report also recommended that schools should commission domestic abuse training for all staff.
Clinical Commissioning Groups were also asked to urge doctors to document if people are being accompanied to appointments by partners.
The Birmingham Community Safety Partnership said that the 2013 case was “still being risk-assessed”.
A spokeswoman added: “The publication of Domestic Homicide Reviews can be affected by a wide range of other processes that can follow a death, including inquests, criminal trials and professional conduct body hearings. There are also other processes related to publication including discussions with the Home Office and the relatives of a victim. Reviews are published as soon as is possible.”