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Every suicide in which the deceased had endured domestic violence should be treated as a possible murder case, as per demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months 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 parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her death by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter died in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “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 deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

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

She said the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when an individual 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 use the legislation we already possess properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you look at the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances 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 companion they mistreated, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”