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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be considered a potential murder case, according to demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

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

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

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

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“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 let down before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving 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 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 suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to look into what he had done to her, I was informed 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, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was critical “since when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the present, 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 conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in cases which are ongoing.

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