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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, according to demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

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

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. 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 new law to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, 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 “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

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

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

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

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, 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 prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to consider homicide allegations 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 currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”