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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The man who did this to her walked free, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We must apply the laws we already possess properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you consider the matter of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”