🔗 Share this article

Every suicide where the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a possible murder case, as per demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed 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 parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed 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 have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into 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 death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since 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 properly 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 need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

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

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”