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Each self-inflicted death in which the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible murder case, according to demands from campaigners who seek to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

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

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to examine these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a advocacy organization at a significant gathering in London recently.

The meeting, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for reform in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had suffered bereavement to suicide after domestic abuse.

Individual Accounts of Tragedy

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as evidence against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was later jailed for an additional term after a second woman came forward to report that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that laws were existing, they just were rarely applied 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 before her taking her life by the police and numerous services, they had to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was astonished to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Another Tragic Case

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she described as “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a partnership where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled piece by piece until she could not see a path ahead. The individual who caused this walked free, because we call it suicide, we close the file and we proceed.

“Yet I was unable to continue,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I went to the police, when I pleaded with them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest determined death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a establishment that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She emphasized the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “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 homicide.

“We must apply the laws we already possess properly and it really isn’t happening at the present, 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 Crown Prosecution Service to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, led 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 written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been developed with common law practices for centuries, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you consider the issue of murder, but we recognize that it requires examination.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body said: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other controlling or coercive behavior.

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

“We are also working with law enforcement and other parties to ensure these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”