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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives 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 police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, 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.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “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 murder.

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

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around homicide 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, 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 difficult, especially when you look at the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases 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 mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

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