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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a potential murder case, as per calls from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the police and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is murder.

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

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”