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Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a possible homicide, according to demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group at a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for reform in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to report 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 accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“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 battling the police and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into 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 violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to understand that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

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 result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t 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 traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases 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 hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”