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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had experienced domestic violence should be considered a potential murder case, according to demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in London recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently 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 legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the police 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.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, 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 call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. 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 begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“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 four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was critical “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off 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 isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, 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 challenging, especially when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

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