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Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a potential homicide, according to demands from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization during a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

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

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother 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 fresh legislation I required as current statutes were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they had 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 authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter 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 had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted 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 controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label 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 let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, 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 no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

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

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, 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 equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, 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 said. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you look at the matter of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating 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 wrongdoings.”