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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be considered a potential homicide, according to calls from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a landmark meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her former partner to police, submitting a two-hour video interview as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then discovered that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I required as current statutes were in place, and after learning how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who did this to her walked free, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into 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 homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the suicide is homicide movement was vital “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have effectively 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 law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, 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 opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, 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 challenging, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to consider homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a partner they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their crimes.”