Call for new law to punish domestic abusers who drive their victims to suicide

Domestic abuse campaigners are calling for a new law to ensure perpetrators who drive their victims to suicide face justice.

More domestic abuse victims are ending their own lives than the number killed by an intimate partner.

But while our understanding of fatal domestic abuse has grown, there has only ever been one successful prosecution for manslaughter where a victim has killed themselves.

Frank Mullane, who set up the charity Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA) following the murders of his sister and nephew by a former partner, believes new legislation may be needed to help juries understand the links between domestic abuse and suicide.

He told Metro: ‘We need a serious debate first and probably a new law which enables jurors to clearly see causation so that perpetrators o