Suicides Linked to Domestic Abuse Should Be Investigated as Potential Homicides, Urge UK Relatives

Each self-inflicted death where the victim had endured domestic violence should be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This move is necessary because law enforcement are not doing enough to bring perpetrators to justice in instances of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“Time and again, there is systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a co-director of a campaign group during a significant gathering in London earlier this week.

The meeting, arranged by a group leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to fight for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death after family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

Sharon Holland experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her former partner to authorities, providing a two-hour video interview as proof against him.

Following her passing, the perpetrator was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a another victim stepped up to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother chose to advocate for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; yet she then realized that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as existing laws were already there, and after learning 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 explained.

“Over 47 families 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 fighting the authorities and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted inquiries that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

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 prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an amazing, deeply devoted mother to her two children, and she took her own life after two years in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she didn’t just die by suicide. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was informed that there was no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A four day inquest found self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The parent informed the gathering that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that ignores what is obvious”.

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

“We must use the legislation we already possess effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to hold abusers accountable for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as hands and weapons.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, chaired by a Labour MP, and attended by 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 own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the culmination of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she stated. “Especially around homicide or manslaughter, 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, quite frankly, it’s the world we currently live in.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is incredibly complex and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it requires examination.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our legal officers are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other parties to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”