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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

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 report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “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 child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, 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 was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“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 killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, 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 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 take legal action. We need judges to understand that words and control can cause death 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 attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense 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 controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”