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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured abuse at home must be treated as a possible murder case, according to calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their actions.

This step is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

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

“She was physically beaten, 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 self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation 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 investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with common law practices 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 extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”