Calls for law change to punish abusers whose victims take own lives

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Some of the country’s leading domestic abuse campaigners are calling for a change in the law to make sure perpetrators who drive their victim to suicide face justice in the courts.

The number of suspected suicides after domestic abuse has now outstripped the number of so called intimate partner homicides for the second year running.

The charity AAFDA – Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse – says while understanding of the link between abuse and suicide has improved, the law continues to fail victims and their loved ones.

Now it’s calling – with other campaign groups – for new legislation which it argues will help juries better recognise the links and see more perpetrators convicted and given longer sentences.

“The criminal justice system is failing