🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be treated as a possible murder case, according to calls from campaigners who seek to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “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 sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, 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 went to the police, 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.

“There was no investigation 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 determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, 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 driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

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

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”