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Each self-inflicted death where the deceased had endured abuse at home must be treated as a potential homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

This move is necessary because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of suicide following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” initiative to fight for change in the legal framework, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and imprisoned for 41 months. He was later sentenced for an additional term after a another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a new law I needed as existing laws were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been failed before her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s daughter Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a campaign of abuse.

“Hannah was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I have not managed to move on. Honestly, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. She was killed slowly and deliberately 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 passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic multi-day session of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The parent told the meeting that for a decade she has “struggled against a establishment that refuses to see what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder movement was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

“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 Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a opposition politician, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

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

“Our law is broken, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is fragmented. It’s not written in statute anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider 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 several individuals for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, including in cases which are currently active.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”