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Every suicide in which the victim had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential murder case, as per demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide 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,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years 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.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child 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 loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives 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 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 stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you look at the matter of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”