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Every suicide in which the deceased had endured domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, as per calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct 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.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed 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 police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, 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 systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual 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 informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and attended by 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 own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, 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 extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”