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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had endured domestic violence should be considered a potential homicide, according to demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

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

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down before her death by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “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 inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated 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 self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. 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 look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

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

“We must use the legislation we already possess properly and it really isn’t happening 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 investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. 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, led by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

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