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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured abuse at home must be treated as a potential murder case, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their actions.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a another victim came forward 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 bring perpetrators accountable; however 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 fresh legislation I required as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the authorities and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution 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 Hannah died in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership 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 could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and deliberately 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 could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She said the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the government official, 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, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, 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 extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge 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 murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”