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Every suicide in which the victim had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a potential homicide, as per calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary 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, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed 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.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives 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 child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing 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 had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We must apply the laws we currently have effectively 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 prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

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

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, 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 incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

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

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”