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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had endured domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, according to demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found 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 fighting the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally 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 nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

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

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “since 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 use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening 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 law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”