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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had experienced abuse at home must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” 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 offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate 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 homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings 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 movement was critical “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we already possess properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

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

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, 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 difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

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