Suicides Linked to Family Violence Should Be Probed as Potential Homicides, Demand UK Families

Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in instances of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

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

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders to justice; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, 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 multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

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

She emphasized the suicide is homicide campaign was vital “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must use the legislation we already possess effectively and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, 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, it’s the world we currently live in.

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

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations 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, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”