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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had experienced abuse at home should be considered a potential murder case, according to demands from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months 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 to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” 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 mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with 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 homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “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 need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible 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 take legal action. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, 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 fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices 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 incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”