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Every suicide where the deceased had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible murder case, according to demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“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 police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling 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 inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, 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 understand that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“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 outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you look at the matter of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our prosecutors 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 causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”