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Every suicide where the victim had experienced domestic violence should be considered a potential homicide, according to calls from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, 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 methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. 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 have not managed to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing 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, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade 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 someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must use the legislation we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases 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 ongoing.

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