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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward 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 new law to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 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 was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine 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 require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths 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, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for generations, 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 fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”