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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, 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 endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual 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 told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have 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 need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service 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 second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

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

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