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Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who caused this walked free, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action 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 had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively 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 require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances 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 companion they mistreated, including in proceedings 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 crimes.”