Only 3% of suicides linked to domestic abuse result in prosecution, data shows | Domestic abuse suicide

Figures show that just 3 per cent of domestic violence-related suicides in England and Wales over the last five years resulted in any prosecution.

Between 2020 and 2025, 553 people committed suicide over suspicion of abuse in an intimate relationship, but only 17 people faced posthumous criminal charges.

Figures released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council have revealed that by 2025, someone in an abusive relationship is more likely to take their own life than be killed by their abuser. Statistics showed this for the third year.

The Guardian investigates cases of women taking their own lives following prolonged domestic violence, and this report reveals that alleged abusers are often not investigated by police after the death of their partners.

In March Lee Milne became the first person in Britain to be convicted by a jury of murdering his current or former partner, who died by suicide following domestic violence. The jury found Milne guilty of involuntary manslaughter, even though his estranged wife, Kimberly, took her own life and Milne did not physically cause her death.

Milne’s trial was heard in Scotland. No manslaughter inquest in England and Wales has resulted in a jury returning a guilty verdict in a domestic violence-related suicide.

In many cases, alleged perpetrators were not investigated for their role in their partner’s suicide or possible abuse prior to their death. In some, existing investigations into domestic violence were closed without explanation following the death of the alleged victim.

Nicole Jacobs, domestic violence commissioner for England and Wales, said there was “too much tolerance for variation” between forces following domestic violence-related suicides and that “adequate investigative measures were not put in place” in some areas in the early stages of the investigation.

“I think it’s hard to describe the impact when that doesn’t happen and how difficult it is for families or anyone else to pursue any sense of justice after that is lost,” he added. “It is not possible to undo this, otherwise the obstacles become much greater.

“What tends to hold [police] To me, the return is probably the resource and capacity compatible with the fact that the perpetrator will control the narrative from the very beginning, and [there is] lack of challenging this narrative.

Jacobs said he was aware of cases where alleged criminals were allowed to keep victims’ cell phones, leading to the potential loss of sensitive data. Others, he said, discouraged officers from meeting with victims’ families, claiming they unfairly alienated them.

Asked if victims’ relatives had encountered a postcode lottery in their quest for justice, Jacobs said: “Absolutely true.” He added that the low number of prosecutions was “extremely worrying” because domestic abuse was “extremely repetitive”.

He said: “Often, without any intervention or sanction, perpetrators of domestic abuse do not magically change and continue to have a relationship with the person they meet.

““It is in the public interest to hold people accountable for such violent, coercive and controlling behavior, both for the victim’s and the family’s sense of justice, but also for the general public.”

Jacobs said he has been in contact with “many families” who have approached police with possible evidence of criminal wrongdoing following a domestic violence-related suicide, but he feels this is the case. “It’s nearly impossible to get “any attention” from officers.

“Every police force needs to be much more diligent in overseeing what goes on in these investigations,” Jacobs said. “It was shocking to realize how difficult it is for a family to proactively put together truly reliable information by looking at only the most obvious information for them.

“There’s a lot of that feeling… we’ll see what happens at the inquest, then we’ll see what happens at the coroner’s court,” he added. “By then the obstacles to any kind of action had become very difficult to overcome.”

Some campaigners have called for changes to the law to make driving someone to suicide through domestic violence a standalone offence.

“I I’ve heard people argue convincingly that we don’t need changes, we should just enforce the laws we have, and I’ve heard convincing arguments that we need more clarity,” Jacobs said.

“No matter where we resolve this question, the truth is that there are very clear things we can do here and now that will actually increase the possibility of much greater accountability and justice.”.

“It’s about the quality of what’s being examined in that immediate time period at the time of death, and if that can be improved there are huge steps we can make.”.

“I think this will, to some extent, improve the ability to use the laws as they are… we don’t test those laws and systems well enough because we don’t have the quality of that information consistently.”