🔗 Share this article

Every suicide where the deceased had endured domestic violence must be considered a potential murder case, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move 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 systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” 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 brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this 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 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 informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

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

“The statutes exist. We need the will, 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 second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

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