Self-inflicted deaths Linked to Family Violence Should Be Probed as Potential Murders, Urge UK Relatives

Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to hold offenders accountable in instances of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the legal system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a significant meeting in London recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united relatives who had lost loved ones to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

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

Following her passing, the individual was found guilty of coercive and controlling behavior and imprisoned 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.

After Chloe’s death, the parent decided to campaign for a legal change to hold offenders accountable; however she then discovered that laws were already in place, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been let down previous to her death by the authorities and many other agencies, they had to do their job properly, and practices required reform,” she explained.

“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 so many families who have been battling the police and CPS for a long time and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter died in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a relationship where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she explained.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who caused this walked free, because we label it self-inflicted death, we close the file and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was nothing that they were able to take.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and had no impact. A four day inquest determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by multiple services.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder movement was vital “because when someone takes their own life after they’ve endured family violence, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is murder.

“We need to apply the laws we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the present, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“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 recognize that words and control can kill equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, especially when you consider the matter of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Family violence is a terrible crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider homicide allegations 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 partner they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are currently active.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to ensure these types of crimes are well-understood – so that we can bring perpetrators accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”