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Every suicide where the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a potential murder case, according to demands from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, 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 imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual 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 told that there was no action that they were able to take.

“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 death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “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 murder.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess 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 need the will, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you consider the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime 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 number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”