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Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a significant meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

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

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were already there, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon 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 changed nothing. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”