Domestic abuse related death reviews

Domestic abuse related death reviews (DARDRs) are official investigations into deaths linked to domestic abuse.

DARDRs aim to understand what happened and find ways to prevent future deaths. They do not place blame. They look at how different agencies responded to the situation. 

The goal is to improve the system. It is also to make sure that people facing domestic abuse get better support and protection.

When a review is set up

We must review the circumstances when someone dies and the following criteria apply: 

• their death was or seems to have resulted from violence, abuse or neglect
• they were a Hart resident
• they were 16 or over 

And the violence, abuse or neglect was by someone: 

• they were related to
• they were or had been in an intimate personal relationship with 

Who does the review

Hart Community Safety, as part of the Safer North Hampshire Community Safety Partnership, is responsible for commissioning and conducting DARDRs in Hart. We appoint an independent Chair and panel of representatives from relevant involved services.  

After the review, we send a full report to the Home Office. 

Why we have DARDRs

To prevent the same thing happening again we need to understand: 

• what went wrong
• what we can improve or do differently to safeguard victims 

The review makes recommendations to help professionals and organisations to: 

• work better together when safeguarding victims
• identify and apply changes to improve responses to domestic abuse 

These are not inquiries into how the victim died or who is to blame. They do not replace the police investigation, coroner's hearing or any other inquiry.

View published reviews

Review into the death of Lisa in February 2024

Resources

• Get help and support for domestic abuse
• Read statutory guidance on conducting DARDRs on GOV.UK.
• Search the national Domestic Homicide Review Library
• Safer North Hampshire partnership