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Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence should be treated as a possible homicide, as per calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

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

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign 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 decided it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”