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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives 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 fighting the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately 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 no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

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

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “because when an individual takes their own life 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 currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

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

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

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