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Every suicide where the deceased had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up 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 hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been failed before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed 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 continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her two children, 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 piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence 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 “been fighting a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

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

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

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 junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, 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, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in cases which are ongoing.

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