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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are not doing enough to hold offenders to justice in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in London earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide after family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders to justice; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We must apply the laws we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

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

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “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.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other parties to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”