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

Only 3% of suicides related to domestic abuse in England and Wales in the past five years have resulted in any sort of prosecution, figures show. Between 2020 and 2025, 553 people took their own lives after suspected abuse in an intimate relationship, but only 17 posthumous charges were brought. The figures, released by the National Police Chiefs’ Council, revealed that in 2025, someone in an abusive relationship was more likely to take their own life than be killed by their abuser. It was the third year running that stats had shown this to be the case. The Guardian is investigating the cases of women who take their own lives after prolonged domestic abuse in a series of reports that has revealed how alleged abusers are often not investigated by police after their partner’s death. In March, Lee Milne became the first person in Britain to have been convicted by a jury of killing a current or former partner who died by suicide after domestic abuse. A jury found Milne guilty of culpable homicide despite the fact that his estranged wife Kimberly took her own life, and he did not physically cause her death. Milne’s case was heard in Scotland. In England and Wales no manslaughter prosecution in a case of suicide linked to domestic abuse has resulted in a jury reaching a guilty verdict. In most cases, alleged perpetrators were not investigated for their role in a partner’s suicide or any possible abuse prior to their death. …