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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured abuse at home must be treated as a potential murder case, as per demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things 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 so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

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

“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 man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, she 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 begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings 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 self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with traditional legal customs 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 look at the matter of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”