Merseyside PCC funds next phase of Femicide Oversight work
11.05.26 - Merseyside
Merseyside’s Police and Crime Commissioner has today committed new funding to drive the work of Merseyside’s Femicide Oversight Group, following the release of a national Domestic Homicide Report.
Emily Spurrell has announced she is taking action to fund a comprehensive review of more than 15 years of post‑homicide scrutiny reports across Merseyside, including Domestic Homicide Reviews and other post‑homicide processes, to identify long‑standing patterns of failure and missed opportunities to prevent the killing of women.
She confirmed the funding following the release of the fifth annual Domestic Homicide Report, which tracks the scale and nature of domestic-abuse related deaths, published by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) last month (28th April).
The report highlighted there were 347 deaths recorded in England and Wales in the year to March, an increase of 85 from the previous year, the majority of which are suspected suicides following domestic abuse. It also highlighted that most victims and suspects had prior contact with public services, and that risk factors such as coercive control, mental ill‑health and substance misuse were frequently present before death.However, learning from these deaths is still largely examined in isolation, through individual reviews rather than being assessed collectively across agencies and over time. This has led the PCC to fund the next phase of the work by the Femicide Oversight Group to review this issue locally.
The Merseyside Femicide Oversight Group - the first of its kind in England - was set up in light of the findings of the Femicide in Merseyside: 15 Years of Failing Women report which was commissioned by Merseyside’s specialistic domestic abuse sector and driven by the families of local victims who were concerned about the lack of action.
Produced by the Femicide Census, the report found that in every case where victims or perpetrators were known to authorities, failings were identified in how risk was identified or managed.
Chaired by Caroline Grant, CEO of specialist domestic abuse charity The First Step and convened by the PCC, the Femicide Oversight Group brings together senior representatives from policing, health, local authorities, the CPS, probation, the courts, specialist women’s services, independent experts including the Femicide Census, and family and survivor advocates to provide strategic leadership and learning on femicide across the region.
Phase Two of the work which will be undertaken by the Femicide Census will, for the first time, bring together post‑homicide learning from across policing, health, probation, the courts and safeguarding agencies into a single independent evidence base, addressing the absence of any existing process to examine these reports collectively across agencies, time and systems.
This approach directly aligns with the national report’s emphasis on early identification of risk, improved information‑sharing and preventing repeat failures, by enabling patterns to be identified across dozens of cases rather than within individual reviews alone.
Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner Emily Spurrell said: “Too many women are killed after patterns of abuse, control or violence are already known. Yet the learning from those deaths has too often remained fragmented, siloed or forgotten.
“The national Domestic Homicide Report makes clear that abuse was often known, risks were present and opportunities to intervene were missed.
“This funding is about changing that. By examining post‑homicide scrutiny reports collectively - not in isolation - we can finally identify where systems repeatedly fail women, and what must change to prevent future deaths.
“The figures released nationally by the NPCC demand action. We must do much more to protect women in our communities and prevent further lives being lost.
The Merseyside Femicide Oversight Group focuses on preventing future deaths through early intervention, safeguarding, and community-based prevention. It examines data and evidence to better understand patterns of harm and risk, and to drive improvements in response to domestic abuse and other forms of violence.
Caroline Grant CEO of The First Step Knowsley and Chair of the Group said: “In 2024, Merseyside’s specialist domestic abuse sector commissioned the Femicide Census to examine Femicide in Merseyside: 15 Years of Failing Women, amid growing concern over the loss of local women and girls’ lives to male violence and a lack of urgency in understanding and addressing it.
“The findings showed the same issues being repeatedly identified but not resolved, underlining the need for a stronger, more coordinated response. Families and the public expect meaningful, lasting change.
“In response, the Merseyside Police and Crime Commissioner established the first independently chaired Femicide Oversight Group to drive reform and support partners in implementing the review’s findings. Since then, I have seen increased commitment and transparency from partners to deliver change. Continued investment in independent review and scrutiny reflects that progress and places Merseyside in a stronger position to deliver real, lasting change.”
Clarrie O’Callaghan co-founder of the Femicide Census and author of the Femicide in Merseyside report said: “Reviewing all femicides is a logical way to ensure past mistakes in policing and managing violent men are not repeated. All women are at risk of violent and abusive men, not just in domestic homicide contexts. As the recent inquiry into the Southport killings showed Rudakubana should have been identified, dealt with and monitored as a risk to girls while at school. The pattern of violence he demonstrated had much in common with domestic abusers.”
Karen Ingala Smith Co-Founder said: “We have been calling for femicide reviews for 10 years. Only looking at domestic homicides misses the commonalities in male entitlement, misogyny, mental health, violent, controlling and abusive behaviour, problematic substance uses and the gaps in availability of services for victims and interventions with perpetrators that we repeatedly see in men who abuse and kill women and girls.”
Detective Chief Superintendent Paul Lamb, Public Protection Unit, who represents Merseyside Police at the Femicide Oversight Group said: “The national Domestic Homicide Report reinforces the urgent need to strengthen how we learn from deaths linked to domestic abuse and suspected suicides. Embedding learning is crucial, which is why our Policy and Strategy unit is working hard to ensure organisational learning from Domestic Homicide Reviews is translated into real change across the force.
“We have introduced a new suicide and domestic abuse notification scheme to improve the identification of domestic abuse in suspected suicides and to enhance how information is shared between partners. Alongside this, we are upskilling officers and staff to apply greater professional curiosity at the scenes of suspected suicides and unexplained deaths, ensuring that any potential history of domestic abuse is properly explored and is better understood. Structural change also matters. Our new BCU model has enabled the creation of dedicated domestic abuse investigation teams, strengthening scrutiny, consistency and specialist response.
“Preventing future deaths requires all agencies to act on learning, work together and intervene earlier. As part of the first Femicide Oversight Group of its kind in the country, we are committed to challenging gaps, strengthening partnerships and ensuring warning signs are never overlooked.”
Knowsley MP Anneliese Midgley, who has been supporting this work, added: “Violence against women and girls is not inevitable, and every woman’s death represents a failure of the systems designed to protect them. Tackling VAWG must be treated as a core public‑safety and equality priority, not an afterthought.
“I am strongly committed to driving this change in Knowsley and across our Borough, and I fully support the work of the Femicide Oversight Group in holding agencies to account and turning hard learning into action.
“I welcome this funding commitment to progress Phase 2 of the Femicide Review and will continue to work with the Police and Crime Commissioner and with Ministers to champion for sustained funding, stronger partnership working and early intervention, and to stand alongside specialist services like The First Step to ensure prevention, protection and justice for women and girls is delivered in practice, not just in principle."