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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a possible murder case, as per demands from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their behavior.

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

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization at a significant meeting in London earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter Chloe Holland in March 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for an additional term after a second woman came forward to report 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 legal change to hold offenders to justice; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the authorities and numerous services, they needed to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the police and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’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.

“Hannah was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The man who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, 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 went to the police, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

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

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “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 murder.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

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

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other parties to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”