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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had experienced abuse at home must be considered a possible homicide, according to demands from campaigners who aim to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic impact of their actions.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide after domestic abuse.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

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

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Before her death, Chloe had informed her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

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

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then realized that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down before her death by the police and many other agencies, 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 continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter Hannah died in May 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her two children, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership 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 could not see a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately 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 informed 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 struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

The parent told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, 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.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to recognize that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

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

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, 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 look at the issue of murder, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”