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

Jacobs said she was aware of cases in which alleged offenders had been allowed to keep victims’ mobile phones, leading to a potential loss of crucial data. Others, she said, had discouraged officers from interviewing victims’ families by falsely claiming they were estranged.

Asked if the loved ones of victims were facing a postcode lottery in their quests for justice, Jacobs said: “Exactly right.” She added that the low number of prosecutions was “hugely concerning” because domestic abuse was “highly repetitive”.

She said: “Very often, without any intervention or sanction, perpetrators of domestic abuse don’t just magically change with whoever else they meet and go on to have relationships with.

*“*It is in the public interest for people to be held to account for that kind of violence and coercion and controlling behaviour – both for the sense of justice for that victim and family, but also for the general public.”

Jacobs said she had been in touch with “many families” who had approached police with potential evidence of criminal wrongdoing after a suicide related to domestic abuse but felt it was *“*near to impossible” to get “any kind of attention” from officers.

“Each police force must be much more rigorous in their oversight of what is happening in those investigations,” Jacobs said. “It’s been shocking to understand when a family has been proactive bringing together really credible information how difficult it has been for them … to get just the most obvious information looked at.

“There’s a lot of this feeling of … we’ll see what happens in a review, see what happens later in a coroner’s court,” she added. “By then, the obstacles have become very hard to overcome in terms of any kind of action*.”*

Some campaigners have called for a change in the law to make driving someone to suicide via domestic abuse a standalone offence.

*“*I’veheard people credibly argue that we don’t need changes, that we need to implement the laws that we do have, and I’ve heard credible arguments that we need more clarity,” Jacobs said.

“No matter where we get to resolving that question, the fact is there are just such obvious things we could be doing in the here and now that would really increase the likelihood of much more accountability and justice*.*

“That does come down to the quality of what is looked into at the time of the death in that immediate timeframe, and there are huge obvious strides we could make if that was improved*.*

“To some degree, I think it would improve the ability to use the law as it is … we’re not testing those laws and systems well enough because we don’t have the quality of that information consistently.”

• In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123, or email jo@samaritans.org or jo@samaritans.ie. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org, or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org