Domestic homicides and suspected victim suicides during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought unprecedented challenges for all agencies trying to protect vulnerable people. In March 2020 there was widespread concern about the safety of vulnerable people potentially isolating with abusers. Victims faced lockdown measures which restricted support from family, friends, employers, and agencies.

In 2020 the Domestic Homicides Project was established by police and government in England and Wales to collect, review, and share quick-time learning from all police-recorded domestic homicides and also from suspected suicides of individuals with a history of domestic abuse victimisation in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions.

Responding to concerns about rising domestic homicide rates from the domestic abuse sector, the project aimed to establish the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on domestic homicides and learn lessons from every tragic death to seek to prevent future deaths.