For the second year running, more women in England and Wales are believed to have taken their own lives following domestic abuse than have been murdered by a partner, exposing what experts are calling a catastrophic blind spot in the justice system and a “national scandal” of under-reported deaths.
Official figures from the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s Domestic Homicide Project show that in the year ending March 2024, there were 98 suspected suicides following domestic abuse, compared to 80 intimate partner homicides. Over the four years from 2020 to 2024, the project recorded 354 suspected suicides linked to domestic abuse against 332 homicides.
But these figures are now believed to represent only a fraction of the true scale. Research by the Kent and Medway Suicide Prevention Programme suggests official statistics may track as few as 6.5% of cases. Its analysis found about a third of all suspected suicides in the region between 2018 and 2024 were affected by domestic abuse.
If this regional picture is reflected nationally, it could mean as many as 1,500 victims of domestic abuse are taking their own lives every year in England and Wales—a figure up to 15 times higher than current estimates. The research programme’s manager, University of Kent academic Tim Woodhouse, stated the national data was a “good start” but criticised its “very tight exclusion criteria,” arguing it was “massively underplaying the number.”
A System Failing to See Homicide
Campaigners argue this statistical gap is symptomatic of a deeper failure: police and prosecutors are too often failing to investigate these suicides as potential unlawful killings from the outset, allowing perpetrators to evade justice. There has been only one successful manslaughter conviction in UK legal history where a woman died by suicide following domestic abuse.
That single conviction was in 2017, when Nicholas Allen pleaded guilty to the manslaughter of his former partner, Justene Reece, after she took her own life. Allen had stalked her after she left him for a women’s refuge. Since then, the Crown Prosecution Service has attempted manslaughter prosecutions in at least two other cases, with only one resulting in a conviction for related offences.
In March, Ryan Wellings was cleared of the manslaughter of Kiena Dawes by a jury at Preston Crown Court. Dawes took her own life, leaving a note on her phone saying: “Slowly … Ryan Wellings killed me.” Wellings was, however, convicted of assault and coercive and controlling behaviour and jailed for six and a half years.
Legal experts point to the “eggshell skull” principle, a precedent suggesting a defendant can be liable for harm even if exacerbated by a victim’s pre-existing vulnerabilities. However, proving the causal link between abuse and suicide to secure a manslaughter conviction remains a significant hurdle, compounded by the fact there is no specific criminal offence in England and Wales for causing suicide through domestic abuse.
“The defence team will exploit the merest mention of mental health difficulties and the jury may struggle to convict for manslaughter,” said Frank Mullane of Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse. He and others are calling for a new, specific law to make causation clearer for juries and give the CPS more confidence to prosecute.
Families Denied Justice
The human cost of these systemic failures is etched in individual cases where coroners have identified abuse, but criminal charges have not followed.
At an inquest in Walthamstow, a coroner ruled that the suicide of Georgia Barter, after a decade-long campaign of abuse by her former partner Thomas Bignell, was an unlawful killing. The inquest heard Bignell had kicked, stamped on, and sexually assaulted Barter. Despite the coroner’s finding, the Crown Prosecution Service said there was insufficient evidence to bring charges. Bignell was known to multiple police forces, but access to information about previous reports was inconsistent.
In another case, Katie Madden’s former partner, Jonathon Russell, admitted at an inquest to giving her a black eye and, hours before her death, telling her to kill herself. No criminal investigation into Russell’s role has been launched, and police dropped their assault investigation after Madden died.
Georgia Barter’s mother, Kay, said: “It’s been almost six long heartbreaking years since I lost my beautiful daughter Georgia. Still the fight for justice goes on.” She highlighted the lone 2017 conviction, adding: “That is shocking. I’m sure I speak for myself and the countless grieving families out there – we demand change now.”
Campaign group Project Resist, which has brought together bereaved families, is demanding that all suicides where domestic abuse is suspected be investigated as potential homicides from the start to preserve evidence. Pragna Patel of the group said families are “being failed by a criminal justice system that is not fit for purpose,” blaming a “systemic culture of discrimination, arrogance, indifference and apathy.”
Calls for a Fundamental Shift
There is a growing push for a fundamental shift in how agencies respond. The Centre for Women’s Justice has highlighted repeated police failures to disrupt escalating abuse or consider protective measures, even in high-risk cases. Its joint head of litigation, Kate Ellis, stated: “We believe that some domestic abuse-related suicides are preventable, particularly in cases where the police are on notice of the abuse.”
In a significant policy change, Domestic Homicide Reviews are being renamed Domestic Abuse Related Death Reviews to better encompass suicides linked to abuse, aiming to ensure lessons are learned from all fatal cases involving coercive control.
Campaigners also highlight specific risks within Black, minority, and migrant communities. Hannana Siddiqui of Southall Black Sisters, which has campaigned on this issue for over 40 years, said women in these communities face “additional barriers to overcome in order to escape abuse caused by intersecting racism and misogyny.”
While the NPCC and CPS have recently stressed a desire to bring more cases, and two men are currently being prosecuted for manslaughter following domestic abuse-related suicides, campaigners say the problem is entrenched. They point to a need for better multi-agency work, non-means-tested legal aid for bereaved families, and mandatory professional education to identify high-risk indicators of suicidal ideation linked to abuse.
With an estimated 2.3 million people experiencing domestic abuse in England and Wales last year, the sheer scale of potential risk is undeniable. As the Kent research suggests, the true number of women for whom abuse becomes fatal by their own hand may be a hidden epidemic, demanding a radical change in how the state counts, investigates, and ultimately prevents these deaths.
