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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence must be considered a potential homicide, according to demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward 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 legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning 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 needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four 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 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 child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” 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 intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon 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, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”