It’s important to note that while the data around domestic abuse-related suicides is appalling, the fact it’s being recorded at all is a sign of progress. The Domestic Homicide Project was only established in 2020 and aims to capture a broad picture of how domestic abuse can result in loss of life. The hope is that experts – including police officers – can then use those learnings to prevent future deaths.

It’s easy to feel disillusioned (to put it mildly) by criminal justice responses to domestic abuse. Many victims are kept waiting for hours after phoning the police to report abuse, while forces up and down the country are currently failing to respond adequately to people worried that their partner has an abusive past. Overall, the number of completed prosecutions and convictions for domestic abuse is in decline – and that’s before we’ve even touched on the high rates of abuse perpetrated by police officers against their partners and former partners. However, academics from the University of Central Lancashire, who co-author the annual Domestic Homicide Project report, say some police forces have taken on a number of their recommendations from previous years. They add that the apparent rise in the number of suicides related to domestic abuse is “likely” due to increased awareness and better recording by police officers – although an overall increase can’t be ruled out.

“There is clearly an appetite, especially amongst policing leaders, to do more to prevent domestic homicides and victim suicides,” said Dr Lis Bates, a reader in interpersonal violence prevention at the University of Central Lancashire. “We urge the police to continue to shine a spotlight on these deaths as there remains a lack of consistency across forces about when and how information is sought and shared about domestic abuse history when there is an unexpected death.”

New suicide statistics shine a devastating light on how domestic abuse affects mental health