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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be treated as a potential murder case, as per calls from campaigners who seek to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in cases of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her former partner to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; yet she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her walked free, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally 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 told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, 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 hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“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 just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we currently live in.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”