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Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible murder case, according to calls from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of suicide after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.

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

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter died in May 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. 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 no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother 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 said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must use the legislation we already possess properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority 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 follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

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 result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

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

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”