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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be considered a potential homicide, as per calls from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, 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 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. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed 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 determined death by suicide, despite substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

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

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

“We need to apply the laws we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, 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 investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. 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 House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

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