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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had experienced domestic violence must be considered a potential homicide, as per calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then realized that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“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 CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “been fighting a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine 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 make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by 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 decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “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 established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

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