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Every suicide in which the victim had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered 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 really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to understand that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”