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Every suicide where the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a possible murder case, according to demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“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 during a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

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

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim 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 to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled 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 self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate 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 hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, 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 inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the matter of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”