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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured abuse at home should be considered a possible murder case, as per demands from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service 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

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum 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 endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate 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 substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”