Domestic abusers driving more victims to suicide, warn police

Domestic abusers are driving victims to suicide, police have warned as they admit past mistakes and pledge to investigate more "hidden" cases of violence against women.

- Ben Quinn

The concession came as a report revealed that deaths by suicide among victims of domestic abuse had surpassed the number of people killed by an intimate partner for a second year in a row.

The 1,012 domestic abuse-related deaths recorded in the past four years were described as a "grim milestone" by Louisa Rolfe, the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) lead for domestic abuse. She said it showed "how deeply ingrained violence against women and girls is in our communities".

Of the 262 domestic abuse-related deaths recorded in England and Wales between the start of April 2023 and the end of March last year, 98 were classified as suspected victim suicide following domestic abuse (SVSDA).

The latest report by the Domestic Homicide Project, which is funded by the Home Office and led by the NPCC using live police records, also examined deaths where someone had fallen from a height. Twenty-two such deaths were recorded across 13 forces during the four-year period. Of these, 36% were recorded as SVSDA and 27% as unexpected deaths.

Three of the women who died from a fall were pregnant at the time of their death, a proportion the report called "notably" high, considering that just five women in the entire four-year sample were pregnant.