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Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a possible murder case, according to demands from advocates who seek to hold abusers accountable for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

This step is essential because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders accountable in instances of suicide after family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for change in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, providing a two-hour video interview as evidence against him.

After her death, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as current statutes were already there, and after learning how much my daughter had been let down before her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she added. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter Hannah passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we call it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is obvious”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “since when an individual takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is murder.

“We need to 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.

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that verbal abuse and manipulation can cause death equally to hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is extremely complicated and challenging, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body said: “Family violence is a heinous offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged 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 parties to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their crimes.”