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Every suicide where the victim had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

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 informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the police and numerous services, 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 continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 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 mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, 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 no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was critical “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively 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 police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination 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’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, 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 easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances 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 partner they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”