🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death where the victim had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a potential murder case, as per demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to bring perpetrators accountable in instances of suicide following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the seriousness they warrant,” stated a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in Westminster earlier this week.

The assembly, arranged by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

Sharon Holland lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as proof against him.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for 41 months. He was subsequently sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a violent and abusive relationship with him.

In the wake of her loss, the mother decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators accountable; yet she then discovered that regulations were already in place, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I decided it wasn’t a fresh legislation I required as existing laws were in place, and after learning how much my child had been failed before her death by the police and many other agencies, they had to fulfill their duties, and things required reform,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been fighting the police and CPS for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and didn’t have a voice in case it affected inquiries that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

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

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “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 partnership where she was methodically broken down by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and broken down piece by piece until she was unable to envision a way forward. The man who did this to her 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 haven’t been able to let go. In truth, she did not merely take her own life. She was killed. She was killed slowly and deliberately over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I pleaded with them to look into what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and had no impact. A four day inquest found death by suicide, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and shortcomings by various agencies.”

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

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “because when an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured domestic abuse, we have to investigate it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

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

“We have the laws. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to recognize that words and control can kill just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A parliamentary under-secretary told the meeting: “These deaths are often written off as if they were their own choice, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these are not rare incidents.”

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or manslaughter, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is no longer fit for purpose, honestly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for causing the death of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in proceedings which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are well-understood – so that we can hold offenders to justice for the complete scope of their wrongdoings.”