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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence should be considered a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a significant gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders 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 existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who caused this walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case 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. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to 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 struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was critical “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, 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 consider the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse 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 controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”