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Every suicide in which the deceased had endured abuse at home should be considered a potential homicide, as per demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a significant gathering in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

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

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

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

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child 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.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed 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 begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

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

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed 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 simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”