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Every suicide where the victim had endured domestic violence must be considered a potential homicide, as per calls from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in cases of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling 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 inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, 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 methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate 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 number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”