🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death where the victim had experienced domestic violence must be considered a possible homicide, as per demands from campaigners who aim to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their actions.

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

“In case after case, there is systemic and structural failure, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these deaths with the gravity they deserve,” remarked a leader of a advocacy organization during a landmark meeting in London recently.

The assembly, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to fight for change in the criminal justice system, brought together relatives who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Before her death, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, providing a lengthy recorded statement as proof about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was convicted of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for three years and seven months after a another victim came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

In the wake of her loss, the parent decided to campaign for a new law to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to secure prosecutions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a new law I required as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my child had been failed previous to her death by the authorities and numerous services, they needed 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 conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see such a large number who have been battling the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and could not speak out in case it affected investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

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.

“She was energetic, she was caring,” she stated. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mum to her kids, and she took her own life after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She endured physical assaults, she was mentally tormented, she was dominated and broken down piece by piece until she could not see a way forward. The individual who did this to her went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we proceed.

“But I could not move on,” she said, “and I haven’t been able to move on. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a 24-month span, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had done to her, I was informed 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 self-inflicted death, despite huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The mother informed the gathering that for a decade she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is right in front of it”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was vital “since 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 need to use the legislation we already possess properly 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 law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the Crown Prosecution Service to take legal action. We need judges to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and attended by the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again shared their experiences.

A parliamentary under-secretary informed the assembly: “Such fatalities are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they opted for this, when, in truth, these were the culmination of actually, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she said. “Especially around homicide or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It lacks statutory basis anyway, it has been shaped with common law practices for centuries, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A representative for the legal body said: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our legal officers are actively advised to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have in the past prosecuted a number of defendants for causing the death of a companion they abused, including in cases which are ongoing.

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