Collection

Offensive weapons homicide reviews

Documents and guidance relating to offensive weapons homicide reviews.

The Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 introduced a requirement on the police and local authorities in England and Wales and integrated care boards in England and local health boards in Wales, to review the circumstances of certain homicides where:

  • the victim was aged 18 or over
  • the events surrounding their death involved, or were likely to have involved, the use of an offensive weapon

Guidance

Oversight board

The oversight board has been established to monitor and oversee the local implementation of the reviews.

Reports

Under section 28(7) of the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Act 2022 the Secretary of State must publish or make arrangements for the publication of the report unless it is considered inappropriate to do so. For the OWHR pilot, all of the reports will be published on this page, providing a single source of OWHR reports for England and Wales. OWHRs carried out in Wales under the single unified safeguarding review (SUSR) process will also be published in the Wales Safeguarding Repository as part of the SUSR process, and on the relevant Regional Safeguarding Board website.

Report 5: Offensive weapons homicide review, will be available shortly.

Updates to this page

Published 21 February 2025
Last updated 11 August 2025 show all updates
  1. Offensive weapons homicide review added: Report 6 Birmingham City Council.

  2. Added Report 4: offensive weapons homicide review - West Midlands.

  3. Added 'Report 3: offensive weapons homicide review, Brent'.

  4. Added the second report from the pilot, commissioned by the Cwm Taf Community Safety Partnership.

  5. First report published.

  6. First published.