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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a potential homicide, as per demands from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her death by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately 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 told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, 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 eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We must use the legislation we already possess 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 conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges 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 number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”