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Every suicide where the victim had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a potential homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in cases of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward 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; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” 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 24 months 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 was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to look into what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

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

“We must use the legislation we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped 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 easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”