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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured domestic violence should be considered a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to disclose 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; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded 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 before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the suicide is homicide movement was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine 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 moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, 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 easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”