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Every suicide in which the victim had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a possible homicide, according to demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

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

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years 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.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. 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 no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted 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 death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We need to use the legislation we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with common law practices 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 difficult, especially when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”