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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured domestic violence should be treated as a potential murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed before her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, she 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 begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We need to use the legislation we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, 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 incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

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

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”