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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence must be considered a possible murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of self-inflicted death after 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 deserve,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman 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 new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who caused this walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“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 deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into 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 violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother 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 campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“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 recognize that words and control can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially 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 commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

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