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Every suicide in which the deceased had endured abuse at home should be considered a potential homicide, as per demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however 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 daughter 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 guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into 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 death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws 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.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

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

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”