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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured abuse at home must be considered a possible homicide, according to demands from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report 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 new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” 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 individual who caused this 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 didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately 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 informed 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, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

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

She said the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must use the legislation we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

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

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

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