Self-inflicted deaths Linked to Family Violence Should Be Probed as Potential Homicides, Urge British Families

Every suicide in which the victim had endured abuse at home must be treated as a possible murder case, as per demands from advocates who seek to make perpetrators accountable for the devastating impact of their behavior.

This step is necessary 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 systemic and structural failure, especially within the criminal justice system, to examine these deaths with the gravity they warrant,” remarked a co-director of a advocacy organization during a significant gathering in London recently.

The meeting, arranged by a group running a “Suicide is Homicide” campaign to advocate for change in the legal framework, united families who had suffered bereavement to suicide following domestic abuse.

Personal Stories of Loss

One mother lost her daughter her 23-year-old daughter in March 2023. Prior to her passing, the young woman had reported her ex-boyfriend to police, providing a two-hour video interview as proof about his conduct.

Following her passing, the individual was convicted of coercive and controlling behavior and jailed for over three years. He was subsequently jailed 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 parent chose to advocate for a new law to hold offenders accountable; yet she then realized that laws were existing, they just weren’t often being used to achieve convictions.

“I concluded it wasn’t a fresh legislation I needed as current statutes were already there, and after finding out how much my daughter had been let down previous to her death by the police and many other agencies, they needed to do their job properly, and practices needed to change,” she explained.

“More than four dozen relatives have contacted me and just a handful of us have had a guilty verdict,” she continued. “I was so shocked to see so many families who have been fighting the police and CPS for years and receiving no resolution for their child or brother or sister and didn’t have a voice in case it impacted inquiries that were not progressing.”

Further Heartbreaking Account

Saskia Lightburn Richie’s child Hannah passed away in May 2017, in what she called “the final act of violence” in a prolonged pattern of mistreatment.

“Hannah was vibrant, she was loving,” she said. “She was full of promise, and she was an amazing, really loving mum to her two children, and she died by suicide after two years in a partnership where she was systematically destroyed by her companion,” she explained.

“She endured physical assaults, she was psychologically tortured, she was dominated and dismantled piece by piece until she was unable to envision a path ahead. The individual who did this to her walked free, because we label it suicide, we conclude the case and we move on.

“But I could not move on,” she remarked, “and I haven’t been able to let go. In truth, Hannah didn’t just die by suicide. 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 investigate what he had done to her, I was told that there was no action that they could do.

“No inquiry was conducted into her passing. The domestic violence fatality analysis, which I had to fight for, took five years and changed nothing. A lengthy coroner’s hearing determined self-inflicted death, notwithstanding substantial proof over a very traumatic four day period of family violence and shortcomings by multiple services.”

The mother informed the gathering that for eight years she has “struggled against a system that ignores what is obvious”.

She said the suicide is homicide campaign was critical “because when someone dies by suicide after they’ve suffered domestic abuse, we have to examine it for what it really is, which is homicide.

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

“We have the laws. We need the will, we need police to conduct thorough inquiries. We need the prosecution authority to take legal action. We need the judiciary to understand that words and control can cause death just as much as physical force and arms.”

Political Response

At a follow-up gathering in the Parliament, led by a Labour MP, and including the safeguarding minister, the grieving families again shared their experiences.

A junior minister told the meeting: “Such fatalities are often written off as if they were their decision, they chose to do this, when, in truth, these were the result of in fact, another person’s abuse, and these aren’t isolated stories.”

“Our law is broken, we are aware,” she stated. “Particularly around homicide or unlawful killing, it is fragmented. It lacks statutory basis regardless, it has been developed with traditional legal customs for centuries, and it is outdated, 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 difficult, especially when you look at the matter of homicide, but we acknowledge that it needs to be looked at.”

Prosecution Service Statement

A spokesperson for the prosecution service commented: “Domestic abuse is a terrible offense and our legal officers are regularly instructed to consider murder and manslaughter charges in suicide cases where there is a known context of family violence or other controlling or coercive behavior.

“We have in the past prosecuted a several individuals for leading to the fatality of a companion they mistreated, encompassing in cases which are ongoing.

“We are also working with police and other stakeholders to guarantee these kinds of offences are clearly recognized – so that we can bring perpetrators to justice for the full extent of their crimes.”