Domestic Homicide Review: Subject of the report, “Gerald”, June 2020

This Domestic Homicide Review (DHR) is carried out in accordance with the statutory requirement set out in Section 9 of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. A domestic homicide review must, according to the Act, be a review ‘of the circumstances in which the death of a person aged 16 or over has, or appears to have, resulted from suicide, violence, abuse or neglect by: 

• A person to whom he was related or with whom he was or had been in an intimate personal relationship, or 

• A member of the same household as himself, held with a view to identifying the lessons to be learnt from the death’. 

This review has been undertaken in order that lessons can learned to better protect others in the future. The review was commissioned by West Cumbria Community Safety Partnership on receiving notification of the death of 'Gerald' in circumstances which appeared to meet the criteria of section 9(3) of the Domestic Violence, Crime and Victims Act 2004. On 1 April 2023 local government in Cumbria changed and Cumberland Community Safety Partnership was established. They now have responsibility for this Domestic Homicide Review.