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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were already there, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“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 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation 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 self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was critical “because when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”