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Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be treated as a possible homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a significant gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman 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 new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked 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 weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to understand that words and control can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

“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 matter of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

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

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”