🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a possible homicide, as per calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

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

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged 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 suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided 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 numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives 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 fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we already possess properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off 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 aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you look at the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

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