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Each self-inflicted death where the victim had endured domestic violence must be treated as a possible homicide, according to calls from advocates who seek to make perpetrators responsible for the devastating consequences of their behavior.

This step is necessary because law enforcement are failing to hold offenders to justice in cases of self-inflicted death following family violence.

“In case after case, there is widespread breakdown, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the seriousness they deserve,” stated a leader of a advocacy organization at a landmark gathering in London earlier this week.

The assembly, organized by a group running a “Self-Inflicted Death is Murder” campaign to advocate for change in the criminal justice system, brought together families who had lost loved ones to self-inflicted death following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother experienced the death of her child Chloe Holland in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had informed her ex-boyfriend to authorities, submitting a lengthy recorded statement as evidence about his conduct.

After her death, the perpetrator was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed for an additional term after a another victim came forward to report that she had been in a harmful partnership with him.

After Chloe’s death, the mother decided to campaign for a legal change to bring perpetrators to justice; however she then discovered that regulations were existing, they just were rarely applied to achieve convictions.

“I decided it was not a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after learning how much my child had been let down previous to her taking her life by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and things required reform,” she explained.

“Over 47 families have found me and just a handful of us have had a conviction,” she added. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the authorities and CPS for years and getting no justice for their child or sibling and could not speak out in case it impacted investigations that were not progressing.”

Another Tragic Case

One mother’s daughter her 30-year-old daughter passed away in spring 2017, in what she called “the ultimate abusive action” in a campaign of abuse.

“She was energetic, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an exceptional, really loving mother to her two children, and she died by suicide after 24 months in a relationship where she was methodically broken down by her companion,” she said.

“She was physically beaten, she was psychologically tortured, she was controlled and dismantled gradually until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual 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. Her death was gradual and deliberately over a two year period, and when I approached the authorities, when I begged them to investigate what he had inflicted upon her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her death. The domestic homicide review, which I had to struggle to obtain, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing found death by suicide, notwithstanding huge evidence over a extremely distressing multi-day session of family violence and failings by various agencies.”

The parent 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 an individual dies by suicide after they’ve endured family violence, we have to examine it for what it truly represents, which is homicide.

“We must apply the laws we currently have properly and it really isn’t happening at the moment, and we need to make perpetrators responsible for pushing their targets to suicide.

“The statutes exist. We need the will, we need law enforcement to investigate properly. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death equally to physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the House of Commons, chaired by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

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

“The legal system is flawed, we know that,” she said. “Particularly around murder or unlawful killing, it is piecemeal. It’s not written in statute regardless, it has been shaped with common law practices for generations, and it is outdated, honestly, given the society we inhabit today.

“I will not claim that it’s going to be simple to resolve. It is extremely complicated and difficult, particularly when you look at the issue of homicide, but we recognize that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the legal body commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible crime and our prosecutors are regularly instructed to evaluate homicide allegations in self-inflicted death instances where there is a established background of domestic abuse or other manipulative conduct.

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

“We are collaborating with police and other stakeholders to ensure these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can hold offenders accountable for the full extent of their wrongdoings.”