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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured abuse at home should be considered a possible homicide, as per calls from campaigners who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families 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 affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, 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 didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting 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 homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you look at the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”