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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had experienced domestic violence should be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is essential 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, especially within the legal system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group during a significant meeting in Westminster recently.

The meeting, arranged by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 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 perpetrator 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 second woman stepped up to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to secure prosecutions.

“I decided it was not a new law I required as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

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

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who caused this walked free, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to let go. Honestly, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and intentionally over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, despite substantial proof over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

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

She emphasized 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 must apply the laws we currently have properly and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for driving their victims to death.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Especially around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be easy to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, especially when you look at the matter of murder, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse 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 known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they abused, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

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