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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was later 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 legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down before her death by the police 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 only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

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

“We need to apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”