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Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence should be considered a possible murder case, according to demands from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had reported her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families 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 impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide 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 controlled and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the suicide is homicide movement was critical “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 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 driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”