SUICIDE IS HOMICIDE CAMPAIGN
Justice for all victims of domestic abuse-related suicides
“No one is stopping and asking why this happened. We shouldn’t have to fight so hard for some justice when what happened is this obvious.”
These are the words of Rita whose sister Jasmine died in January 2023 against a history of ongoing violence and coercive control by her partner. Throughout her relationship with him, Jasmine was subjected to a catalogue of escalating abuse that included severe sexual violence involving rape and attempted strangulation, and she reported him repeatedly to the police, telling them that he was extremely dangerous. Matters came to a head when he told Jasmine to “go hang herself to make everyone’s life better”. She was found hanging in her home the next day, but there was a complete failure by the police and inquest system to investigate her death as a domestic abuse related suicide.
It is estimated that three women die each week from suicide due to experiencing domestic abuse, and the numbers appear to be rising. According to the latest figures released by the Domestic Homicide Project funded by the Home Office and led by the National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) using live police records – there were 1,012 domestic abuse-related deaths (male and female) in England and Wales between 2020 and 2024, of which 354 were suspected suicides compared to 332 recorded homicides. Over the 12 months from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, there were 98 suspected suicides compared to 80 recorded homicides. Over the preceding 12 months, there were 93 suspected suicides compared to 83 recorded homicides.The pattern is clear: for the first time, death by suicide appears to have overtaken intimate partner homicides.
The Campaign
Bereaved families from diverse backgrounds have come together with Project Resist to build a campaign demanding justice for loved ones who have taken their lives in the context of domestic abuse (including coercive and controlling behaviour). Testimonies from the families highlight systemic and ongoing failures on the part of the police, the wider criminal justice system and other agencies: failures to investigate their loved ones’ domestic abuse related suicides as potential homicides, following failures to adequately protect and support them whilst alive.
The Failure of the Criminal Justice System
The families’ testimonies reveal disturbing themes of indifference and neglect on the part of the police in their investigations following a domestic abuse related suicide.
Two related issues have clearly emerged: a failure to investigate wider histories of domestic abuse because of a failure to recognise underlying dynamics of abuse and coercive control; and a consequent failure to conduct a thorough investigation of a death as a potential homicide, leading to a failure to consider charges of manslaughter where appropriate.
At best, families may see charges of coercive control brought against the abusers, often belatedly following inquests: charges which fail to reflect the gravity of the offending behaviour and its impact on victims.
Families often have to wait for years for the state to account for such failures, and it is usually too late by then to put them right.
The real issue is not any lack of police powers or gaps in the criminal law. As acknowledged by the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead on domestic abuse - Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe of the Metropolitan Police - investigators miss obvious patterns of coercive and controlling behaviour in too many cases: “It’s very clear that there is more for us to do, to be really curious about what’s happened, to ensure that evidence at the scene of an incident is very thoroughly captured and explored.”
This recognition of the prevalence of police mishandling of domestic abuse-related suicides is welcome but it is not enough. Lessons learnt from countless Domestic Homicide Reviews tell us that the failure of the police to be ‘really curious about what’s happened’ is not the whole problem. Rather, we are faced with serious structural and systemic issues around responses to domestic abuse and coercive control.
Justice and the Inquest System
Historically, the specific form of violence against women seen in cases of domestic abuse related suicides has always been ignored or inadequately addressed by the criminal justice system because of entrenched indifference, neglect and a culture of refusal to investigate on the part of the police. As a result, bereaved families have had to use the inquest system in order to seek some semblance of scrutiny of the circumstances in which their loved ones may have died. However, even that is subject to sound legal advice and representation, and the quality of scrutiny brought to bear can vary considerably: all too often, a coroner will restrict the remit of the inquest narrowly, with the focus on how and not why the victims took their lives.
Inquest outcomes concerning the tragic deaths of Jessica Laverack (2022), Roisin Hunter Bennett (2022) and Kellie Sutton (2024) - where a ground breaking conclusion of unlawful killing was returned – and the recent case of Keina Dawes (2025) have done much to bring to recent public attention, not only the links between suicide and domestic abuse, but also the fact that many bereaved families continue to feel badly let down by the criminal justice system.
Too many victims and their families are seriously failed and will continue to be failed unless the demands of this campaign are properly addressed.
Campaign Demands
A clear and unequivocal recognition in police policy and procedural guidance that suicide in the context of any evidence of domestic abuse may be a potential homicide, i.e. a presumption that any such suicide should be investigated as a potential homicide from the outset until and unless there is clear evidence to rebut that presumption.
A recognition to a similar effect in CPS policy and guidance in order to ensure that police investigating any such case of suicide receive appropriate support from prosecutors.
A recognition in sentencing guidelines that, upon conviction of anyone accused of homicide in any such case of suicide, the context of domestic abuse (including coercive and controlling behaviour) should be seen as a particularly egregious aggravating factor attracting an appropriate sentence.
An explicit commitment in policy and guidance to ensure that links between suicide and domestic abuse are recognised and addressed consistently across the statutory and specialist sectors involved in multi-agency responses to any such case of suicide.
An educational preventative program across the statutory and specialist sectors to ensure an understanding of the high-risk indictors of suicidal ideation and the concrete steps required to protect a potential victim of such suicide.
Non-means tested legal aid for the bereaved family in any such case of suicide to ensure they have access to free legal advice and support to help navigate their way through the complex processes of the police investigation and any ensuing criminal prosecution and/or inquest.
The adequate provision of specialist and holistic advocacy and counselling services to support vulnerable adults to exit from abuse safely and to rebuild their lives free from fear and harm.
Family Endorsement
This campaign is supported by the following families whose loved ones took their own lives having experienced domestic abuse and coercive control:
1. Sharon Holland (mother of Chloe Holland, date of death 6.3.23)
2. Rachel Whiting (sister of Sarah Jane Whiting, date of death 12.4.23)
3. Debbie Hood (mother of Kerry Louise Hensby, date of death 9.8.20)
4. Pamela Taylor (mother of Kellie Marie Sutton, date of death 26.8.17)
5. Phyllis Daly (mother of Jessica Laverack, date of death 2.2.18)
6. Asha Jackson (sister of Zoe McDonald, date of death 7.1.23)
7. Michelle Baird (mother of Tarryn Baird, date of death 28.11.17)
8. Teresa Hunter (mother of Matthew Dudley Hunter, date of death 16.10.21)
9. Philippa (sister of Richard Barker, date of death 2.9.19)
10. Nikki Crookes (mother of Louie Powell, date of death 21.11.21)
11. Margaret Hunter (mother of Roisin Hunter Bennett, date of death 16.3.22)
12. Jackie (mother of Louise, date of death 06.11.2018)
13. Sarah Wingrove (sister of Leanne Allen, date of death 23.4.23)
14. Sharon Walker (mother of Rachel Louise Walker, date of death 15.3.20)
15. Andi Wilkinson (mother of Kara-Leigh Wilkinson, date of death 5.8.23)
16. Helen Simpson (mother of Demi Hannaway, date of death 13.5.21)
17. Donna Gibney (mother of Ashleigh Louise Inskip, date of death 06.07.2021)
18. Sinead Gibson (mother of Diva Gibson, date of death 10/05/2020)
This Campaign is Supported by:
1. Advance
2. Apna Haq
3. Asian Women’s Resource Centre
4. Aurora New Dawn
5. Basira
6. Createful (Portsmouth)
7. Cris McCurley: Solicitor - Ben Hoare Bell Solicitors
8. Crossroads Derbyshire
9. Gilgal
10. IDAS
11. IKWRO
12. Independent Choices Great Manchester
13. Key Charity
14. Leeds Women’s Aid
15. Mercia Women’s Aid
16. Middle Eastern Women and Society Organisation – MEWSO
17. My Sisters Place
18. NE Lincolnshire Women’s Aid
19. Oasis Domestic Abuse Service
20. One Law for All and CEMB
21. Rise UK
22. Rising Sun Domestic Violence and Abuse Service
23. Rochdale Women’s Welfare Association (RWWA)
24. Safety4Sisters North West
25. SATEDA
26. Sheffield Women’s Aid
27. Solace Women’s Aid
28. Staffordshire Women’s Aid
29. Stepping Stones Luton
30. Sutton Women’s Centre
31. The Pankhurst Trust incorporating Manchester Women’s Aid
32. Tim Woodhouse, Churchill Fellow, Suicide Prevention Researcher
33. Trafford Domestic Abuse Service
34. Ubuntu Women Shelter
35. UK Ex Female Prisoner’s Project
36. Vida Sheffield
37. Woman’s Trust
38. Women’s Budget Group
39. Wycombe Women’s Aid
40. Your Sanctuary
Contact & Media
For further information please contact: pragna@projectresist.org.uk
Website links for further information: https://domesticabuserelatedsuicide.org
Her Name Was Chloe Holland links: https://linktr.ee/hernamewaschloeholland
Project Resist’s Website: www.projectresist.org.uk