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Every suicide where the victim had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. 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 bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a way forward. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, she 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 told that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “because 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 apply the laws we already possess properly 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 require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting 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 informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the matter of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

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