Suicides Connected to Family Violence Should Be Probed as Potential Homicides, Urge British Families

Every suicide in which the deceased had experienced abuse at home must be treated as a possible homicide, according to calls from campaigners who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the catastrophic impact of their behavior.

This step is essential because police and prosecutors are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death after family violence.

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the legal system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the gravity they deserve,” stated a co-director of a campaign group at a landmark gathering in Westminster recently.

The assembly, organized by a organization leading a “Suicide is Homicide” initiative to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following family violence.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child her 23-year-old daughter in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

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 another victim stepped up to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

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

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

“More than four dozen relatives have found me and only four of us have had a conviction,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the police and CPS for years and getting no justice for their offspring or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child her 30-year-old daughter passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“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 died by suicide after 24 months in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her partner,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was mentally tormented, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a way forward. The individual who caused this went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah 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 look into what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“There was no investigation into her passing. The domestic homicide review, which I had to fight for, required five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found self-inflicted death, notwithstanding huge evidence over a very traumatic multi-day session of domestic abuse and failings by various agencies.”

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

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

“We need to use the legislation we currently have effectively and it is not occurring at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We require determination, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to prosecute. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as hands and weapons.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a opposition politician, and attended by the government official, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister informed the assembly: “These deaths are often dismissed 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 are not isolated stories.”

“The legal system is flawed, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been shaped with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, quite frankly, it’s the world we inhabit today.

“I’m not going to pretend that it’s going to be simple to fix. It is incredibly complex and challenging, especially when you consider the issue of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A representative for the legal body commented: “Family violence is a terrible offense and our prosecutors are actively advised to consider murder and manslaughter charges in self-inflicted death instances where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have previously charged a several individuals for causing the death of a partner they mistreated, including in cases which are currently active.

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