Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, according to demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their actions.
This step is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.
“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a leader of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.
The assembly, organized by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide following domestic abuse.
Personal Stories of Loss
One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.
After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later 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.
After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.
“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she explained.
“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”
Another Tragic Case
One mother’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.
“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.
“She was physically beaten, 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 walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.
“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly 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 nothing that they were able to take.
“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 four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”
The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.
She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.
“We must use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.
“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”
Government Reaction
At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.
A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”
“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we currently live in.
“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you consider the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”
Prosecution Service Statement
A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.
“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.
“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”
