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Every suicide where the victim had endured abuse at home must 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 step is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities 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 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 were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, 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 mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. 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 look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told 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, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, 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 investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue 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 terrible offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider 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 previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

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