Suicides among domestic abuse victims surpass homicides

The number of victims of domestic abuse who took their own lives in England and Wales surpassed the amount of people killed by their partner for the second year in a row, a report has found.

The Domestic Homicide Project found 98 people were suspected to have killed themselves after experiencing domestic abuse in the year to March 2024. During the same period, 80 people were killed by a partner.

In response, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) said the scale and impact of abuse was "incomprehensible".

The policing organisation said it was committed to seeing more abuse perpetrators charged with manslaughter where their victim takes their own life.

Bereaved relatives and domestic abuse charities have made renewed calls for authorities to act on the link between domestic abuse and suicide.

Between April 2020 and March 2024 there were 1,012 domestic-abuse related deaths - of which almost half were domestic homicides, the majority of which were committed by a current or ex-partner. The rest were committed by another adult relative.

Over the same period there were 354 suspected victim suicides.

Around three-quarters of all victims were female.

However, in the last two years in a row, the report's authors found that suicides linked to domestic abuse outnumbered homicides.

The report was backed by the NPCC, Home Office and College of Policing.

Julie Devey - the chair of the campaign group Killed Women, which also collaborated on the report - said she supported a proposal which would compel police to investigate any history of domestic abuse in the event of an unexpected death.

"For too long, these deaths have been treated as 'unavoidable tragedies' - but they are not. They are preventable," Ms Devey said.

She said the report highlights how victims and their abusers are often already known to public services prior to a fatal incident, adding that there must be a "system that joins the dots and intervenes before it's too late".

A number of high-profile cases have cast a light on the link between abuse and suicide in recent years.

Last year, a court in Preston was told how years of domestic abuse by Ryan Wellings led to 23-year-old hairdresser Kiena Dawes taking her own life.

In January, Wellings was cleared of manslaughter but was jailed for six-and-a-half years for assault and coercive and controlling behaviour.

In 2023, Marc Masterton was jailed for 41 months for coercive and controlling behaviour in relation to the death of his ex-partner Chloe Holland.

Her mother, Sharon, said the sentence was not long enough and started campaigning for a change in domestic abuse laws so that perpetrators of coercive control can face manslaughter charges if their victims take their own life.

Ms Holland has been campaigning under #HerNameWasChloeHolland and won the Bravery Award in BBC Radio Solent's Make a Difference Awards for 2024.

She told the BBC she speaks to a lot of families who have lost loved ones in similar circumstances and thinks the number of suicides among domestic abuse victims is higher and this was just "the tip of the iceberg".

Ms Holland said police needed more training on coercive control and more experts are needed in court cases to explain coercive control to juries.

She also said there needed to be more funding for domestic abuse charities and called for more counselling and mental health support for survivors of domestic abuse.

"What everyone's got to understand is that these victims are normally vulnerable young girls or young women and there is a chance they've had previous domestic abusive relationships and they're already vulnerable and they will be suffering with mental health, especially when these perpetrators cause the psychological effect they do," she said.

Ms Holland said she had spoken to Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, Jess Phillips, on Tuesday and told the minister sentencing for coercive control needs to be higher.

Rachel Whiting - whose sister Sarah who took her own life following domestic abuse - told the BBC that the report's findings did not surprise her.

Sarah, 35, took her own life in a women's refuge in Cardiff in April 2023 - just a few weeks before her 36th birthday.

"I'm a survivor myself and the reason why it doesn't surprise me is I've spoken to hundreds of women since my sister took her life of what they've gone through and the times they've tried to take their life and especially in refuges," she said.

Sarah's ex-partner - with whom she had three children - was jailed for a number of domestic violence-related incidents, Ms Whiting said.

She said some of these included broken sacroiliac joints in her sister's back on two occasions and one occasion where she was put into a coma after he used a hammer on her head.

He was not charged with manslaughter after her death, she continued.

"It's tricky and it's complex, because how can you prove it? How can you prove manslaughter? How can you prove that to CPS? How can you prove that my sister's suicide is related to the long-term trauma that she endured of 15-plus years of domestic violence and abuse?" she asked.

Ms Whiting said Sarah's death is under domestic homicide review and an inquest has been put on hold.

In addition to harsher punishments for domestic abuse perpetrators - saying these "little slaps on the wrist" were enabling some to look for more victims - she also called for more resources to be provided to women's shelters and more trauma-informed training at these centres.

If you have been affected by issues raised in this report, details of organisations offering information and support about suicide and emotional distress are available via BBC Action Line.