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Every suicide in which the deceased had endured domestic violence must be considered a possible murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, 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 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 violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, 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.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“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 police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, 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 simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a partner they mistreated, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”