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Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a potential murder case, according to demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in Westminster recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws 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 practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

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

“We must apply the laws we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off 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 are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

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

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”