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Politicians and experts have thrown their weight behind calls for suicides to be investigated as potential homicides in cases where a person who takes their own life has been affected by domestic abuse.
They also called for better training for police so that officers understand the full impact of domestic abuse, and move away from “a tickbox approach” to suicides.
Earlier this week, the Guardian revealed it was likely that the number of suicides linked to domestic abuse were being vastly underreported, with up to 1,500 victims each year.
Official figures collated by the National Police Chiefs’ Council put that figure at 98 for last year – but it still exceeded the number of intimate partner homicides for the second year running.
The campaigner Karen Ingala Smith said: “That we don’t even know how many women taken their lives because of men’s violence is to our society’s shame and reflects how little women’s lives matter. Every woman who ends her own life will have taken many other steps to try to end the abuse before she reaches that point. We need to stop letting women down and make sure there are adequate routes to safety.”
Dame Nicole Jacobs, the domestic abuse commissioner for England and Wales, said: “It’s unacceptable that domestic abuse victims are being failed and bereaved families are having to fight for justice because the police didn’t ask the right questions when an unexpected death has occurred.
“I agree with the call that the police must fully investigate all suicides where domestic abuse is suspected, so that perpetrators can be held to account for their role. But we also need to see better training and guidance provided across the criminal justice system, so the severity of domestic abuse and coercive control is understood and the impact it has on victims’ mental health is fully recognised.”
She added: “No perpetrator should escape justice because we failed to look closely enough.”
Vera Baird KC, a former victims’ commissioner for England and Wales, said suicides “certainly should” be investigated as homicides “both from the perspective of driving someone to suicide, which is clearly manslaughter, or the domestic abuse has escalated, as it frequently does to the degree where he has helped her to kill herself”.
She added: “There’s no doubt those things should be in the mind of anyone who goes to an unexpected death. And let’s not forget – sometimes these are not suicides at all. These are murders. The police should have an investigative approach, rather than a tickbox approach. It is outrageous that there is a tickbox approach in the world of domestic abuse.”
Jess Phillips, the minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, said: “Each life lost to domestic abuse is a tragedy, and we must do more to prevent them. Our violence against women and girls strategy launched in December sets what we’re doing to root out the causes of these appalling crimes and strengthen our response to all domestic abuse-related deaths.
“We are also funding the domestic homicide project to capture information on domestic abuse-related deaths, including suicides, from all police forces to improve our understanding of this issue.”
The domestic abuse charity Women’s Aid said the findings were “a shocking insight into the reality for so many families who are left bereaved of mothers, daughters and sisters as a result of domestic abuse, but are too often denied justice because their death was not considered to be directly at the hands of their perpetrator”.
Sarah Davidge, the head of membership, research and evaluation at the charity, said “the official figures significantly underpresent the reality behind the impact of domestic abuse”, and added that it “is imperative that understanding of the nature and impact of coercive and controlling behaviour is improved across all agencies that come into contact with survivors, through training like that offered by Women’s Aid”.
There is support across the political spectrum for increasing the number of prosecutions in such cases, and the government has dedicated funding to improving data on lives lost to domestic abuse, including by suicide. “It is absolutely devastating that over a thousand suicides driven by domestic abuse may be going unreported every year,” said Marie Goldman, the Liberal Democrat spokeswperson for women and equalities.
“Too often, the systems and laws meant to protect victims simply fail. We need wholesale changes to ensure these horrendous crimes don’t go unpunished and victims and their loved ones finally get justice.
“Liberal Democrats will push the government to make sure all suicides where domestic abuse is suspected are investigated as potential homicides from the outset,” she added, “so that evidence is preserved and abusers are finally held to account.”
Mims Davies, the shadow minister for women, said it was “essential that government departments work collectively and urgently to tackle – and ultimately prevent – this escalating crisis”.
She added: “A crucial first step would be to ensure that police officers are fully authorised to access and check the Police National Database (PND), following reports that officers have previously been unable to review records relating to domestic abuse perpetrators.”
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In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org
