🔗 Share this article

Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, according to calls from campaigners who aim to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This move is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in instances of self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group at a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then discovered 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 needed as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have contacted 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 fighting the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We must use the legislation we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim 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 requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”