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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured domestic violence should be considered a potential murder case, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

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

“We must apply the laws we already possess 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 police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed 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 previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”