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Every suicide where the deceased had endured domestic violence must be considered a possible murder case, according to calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother chose to advocate for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged them to investigate 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 fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the suicide is homicide movement was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to apply the laws we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations 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 number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”