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Every suicide in which the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible homicide, according to demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, organized by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been failed before her taking her life by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four 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 CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who caused this walked free, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“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 found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “since 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 properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable 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 verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, 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 needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a known context of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”