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Every suicide where the deceased had endured domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

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

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who caused this walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting 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 told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed 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 rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other parties to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”