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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured abuse at home must be considered a potential homicide, according to demands from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for reform in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty 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 report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide 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 piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. 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 informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have 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 police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation 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 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 decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”