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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured abuse at home must be treated as a potential murder case, as per demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders to justice; yet she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been failed before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum 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 controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

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

She said the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because 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 need to apply the laws 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.

“We have the laws. We require determination, 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 physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially 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 prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

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