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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence must be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from campaigners who seek to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

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

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; yet she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found 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 police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call 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 move on. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual 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 no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and challenging, particularly when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to consider 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 partner they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”