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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim 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; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted 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 companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took 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 domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed 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. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

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

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”