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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful 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 a long time and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing 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 found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police 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.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”