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Every suicide where the victim had experienced domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced 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 to justice; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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 stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. 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 pleaded with 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 passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it is not occurring 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 conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

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

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you consider the matter of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”