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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of suicide after family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant gathering in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah passed away 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 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 dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, 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 didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “because when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, 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 resolve. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you consider the matter of homicide, 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 crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”