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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, 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.

“More than four dozen relatives have found 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 CPS for years and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice 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 ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

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

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, 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 could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“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 pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”