Suicides Connected to Family Violence Should Be Investigated as Possible Homicides, Demand British Relatives

Every suicide where the deceased had endured abuse at home should be treated as a possible homicide, as per demands from advocates who seek to hold abusers responsible for the catastrophic consequences of their actions.

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

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to suicide after family violence.

Individual Accounts of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the parent chose to advocate for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four 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 a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter died 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 said. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we call it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I have not managed to move on. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, and when I went to the police, 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 violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of domestic abuse and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the suicide is homicide movement was critical “since when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate 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.

“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 the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill 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 attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives 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 chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex 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 spokesperson for the prosecution service said: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“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 currently active.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”