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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a possible homicide, as per calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found 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 police and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” 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 man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, 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 death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring 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 prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you look at the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

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