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Every suicide in which the victim had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a possible murder case, as per calls from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization at a landmark meeting in London recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for change in the legal framework, united relatives who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term 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 new law to hold offenders to justice; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been failed before her death by the authorities and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families 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 authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I begged 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 struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve suffered family violence, we have to investigate 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 moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the government official, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their own choice, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, 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 inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate 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 leading to the fatality of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”