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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had endured abuse at home must be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

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

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation 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 government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “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 know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised 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 in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”