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Every suicide where the victim had experienced domestic violence should be treated as a potential murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four 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 years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum 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 was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told 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 changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”