🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured abuse at home should be considered a potential homicide, as per calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is essential because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had reported her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

After her death, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the police and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their child or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter 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 said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label 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 let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“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, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

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

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

“We need to use the legislation we already possess 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 need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need judges to understand that words and control can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you consider the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a heinous crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, including in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”