A devastating report into the death of a disabled man from the Travelling community – known only as “Anthony” – has found that he was repeatedly not seen as a victim, and that key agencies must urgently change how they deal with domestic abuse against men, disabled people and Travellers.
The domestic homicide review, chaired by Jan Melia, examined what happened to Anthony in the years before his death and how statutory and voluntary agencies responded. There has been no prosecution, but the panel says the failings – and the lessons – could not be clearer.
Ms Melia said the report is driven by hard questions: how abuse against people with disabilities is dealt with, how male victims are identified and supported, and how members of the Travelling community can be better helped to access protection from domestic abuse
The panel is blunt about how Anthony was viewed by services. It found that, at times, he was not regarded as a victim simply because he was a man, pointing to what it calls a fundamental lack of understanding about what domestic abuse is – and who it can happen to.
The review acknowledges that women and girls are more frequently affected by domestic abuse, but stresses that abuse against men is both serious and rising. In Northern Ireland, men made up 25% of domestic abuse victims in 2004/05; by 2021/22, that had risen to 32%.
Anthony had an acquired brain injury, and the review repeatedly highlights how poorly set up current services are for disabled victims of abuse. It calls for a major, government‑led research project into domestic abuse and disability, to be jointly led by the Departments of Justice and Health.
The panel wants a time‑limited, multi‑agency group to drive that work and produce a single, detailed report that spells out where services are falling short, what needs to change, and how that change will be funded.
Anthony’s family are from the Travelling community, and the report says trust between Travellers and the authorities was badly damaged – particularly around housing.
The Northern Ireland Housing Executive (NIHE) comes in for sharp criticism after an internal email was passed on to Anthony’s family, causing a breakdown of trust and ill feeling on a transit site. These sites are central to how temporary accommodation is provided for Travellers, and the review warns that careless handling of information can cause lasting harm.
The report says NIHE must work with staff to reduce information breaches, improve understanding of information‑sharing rules and make sure sensitive details are handled properly. Elsewhere, the Probation Board for Northern Ireland (PBNI) is told to overhaul its diversity training so staff better understand and respond to the needs of the Traveller community.
The PSNI is told it must tighten up its frontline response to domestic abuse and “get the basics right”.
The review says all student officers and first responders should receive mandatory training in domestic abuse, including risk assessment tools like DASH and processes like MARAC, with regular refreshers for those in public‑facing roles. Crucially, that training must specifically cover non‑intimate abuse – such as child‑on‑parent abuse and abuse by adult relatives – which was a key issue in Anthony’s case.
Beyond the police, the review pushes for joint training involving PSNI, NIHE, social workers and health staff, built around real‑life case studies featuring male and female victims, disabled people and people from diverse cultural backgrounds, including Travellers. The aim is that staff across the board know what domestic abuse looks like – and who it can happen to – and feel confident in tackling it.
The report is scathing about how health and social care services shared information – or failed to – around Anthony and his family.
Probation services also come under scrutiny. The review says PBNI must remind all frontline staff to link in properly with adult mental health and children’s services when those services are already involved with someone on their caseload.
It also highlights concerns about delays in the court system, urging PBNI to work with the courts to speed up the serving of summonses for breaches. The panel warns that slow processes can leave victims at risk for longer than necessary.
The review is particularly critical about what happens when young people leave care. It reminds Children’s Services that they have a legal duty to appoint a personal adviser (PA) to a care leaver at the age of 16 – and says plainly that this must happen.
The implication is that this did not happen consistently in Anthony’s case, or in similar cases, leaving dangerous gaps in support for vulnerable young people at a critical stage in their lives.
Taken together, the report paints a picture of a system that struggled to see Anthony for who he was: a disabled man, a member of the Travelling community and, above all, a victim of domestic abuse.
Male victims, it says, remain less visible and are still too often dismissed or overlooked. Disabled people, especially those with acquired brain injuries, fall between the cracks when services are not designed around their needs or when agencies fail to work together. Travellers face added barriers of mistrust, poor communication and cultural misunderstanding.
The panel is clear: this is not just about individual mistakes. It is about deep‑rooted blind spots and a lack of joined‑up thinking across police, housing, health, social care and probation.
Jan Melia says the review is intended to “respectfully reflect [Anthony’s] life and circumstances” and to ensure that what happened to him leads to real change, not just another report on a shelf.
