🔗 Share this article

Each self-inflicted death in which the deceased had endured abuse at home must be considered a possible homicide, according to demands from advocates who aim to hold abusers responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

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

“Time and again, there is widespread breakdown, particularly within the criminal justice system, to scrutinise these fatalities with the seriousness they deserve,” remarked a leader of a campaign group during a significant meeting in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group leading a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for reform in the legal framework, brought together families who had suffered bereavement to self-inflicted death following family violence.

Personal Stories of Tragedy

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in spring 2023. Prior to her passing, Chloe had informed her former partner to police, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the individual was found guilty of manipulative and domineering conduct and jailed for over three years. He was later sentenced for three years and seven months after a second woman came forward to disclose that she had been in a harmful partnership 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 laws were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it was not a new law I needed as current statutes were in place, and after finding out how much my child had been failed previous to her taking her life by the authorities and numerous services, they had to fulfill their duties, and practices required reform,” she said.

“Over 47 families have contacted me and only four of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was astonished to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and prosecution service for a long time and getting no justice for their offspring or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that weren’t possibly going anywhere.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

One mother’s child Hannah died in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“She was vibrant, she was caring,” she stated. “She had great potential, and she was an exceptional, deeply devoted mother to her two children, 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 psychologically tortured, she was dominated and broken down gradually until she could not see a path ahead. The man who caused this went unpunished, because we label it self-inflicted death, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to move on. Honestly, she did not merely take her own life. She was murdered. Her death was gradual and intentionally over a two year period, 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 no action that they were able to take.

“There was no investigation into her death. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to struggle to obtain, required five years and had no impact. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing four day period of family violence and failings by multiple services.”

The mother told the meeting that for eight years she has “been fighting a system that refuses to see what is obvious”.

She said the self-inflicted death is murder campaign was critical “since when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered 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 really isn’t happening at the present, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for driving their victims to death.

“We have the laws. 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 equally to physical force and arms.”

Government Reaction

At a second meeting in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the bereaved relatives again told their stories.

A junior minister told the meeting: “These deaths are often dismissed as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, reality, these were the result of in fact, somebody else’s violence, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or manslaughter, it is fragmented. 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, given the society we inhabit today.

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

Legal Authority Comment

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a heinous crime and our legal officers are regularly instructed to evaluate murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a established background of family violence or other manipulative conduct.

“We have previously charged a number of defendants for leading to the fatality of a partner they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are collaborating with law enforcement and other stakeholders to guarantee these types of crimes are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the complete scope of their crimes.”