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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly 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.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

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 aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world 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, especially when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”