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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a possible murder case, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group during a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

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 disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that regulations 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 child had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“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 self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

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

She said the suicide is homicide movement was critical “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you look at the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”