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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced abuse at home should be considered a possible murder case, according to demands from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had reported her former partner 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 later jailed 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 bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families 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 battling the police and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister 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 described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, 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 companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled 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 move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally 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 no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need judges to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, 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 lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you look at the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence 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 manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”