The policing lead for domestic abuse has told LBC she wants more perpetrators to be charged with manslaughter if their victim takes their own life, as bereaved families call for a change in the law to prevent abusers 'escaping justice'.
Gemma Robinson took her own life after suffering horrific abuse at the hands of her ex. Her sister Kirsty wants change.The policing lead for domestic abuse has told LBC she wants more perpetrators to be charged with manslaughter if their victim takes their own life, as bereaved families call for a change in the law to prevent abusers "escaping justice".
Because she was no longer alive to support the prosecution, the Crown Prosecution Service were forced to drop the charge of GBH with intent, which carries a maximum life sentence, to the lesser offence of GBH. "Police need to make their investigations more substantial, and there needs to be more senior police oversight of that investigation.We should be bringing some of that intensity and resource to suicides and make sure we are checking criminality - which at the moment is going by without being checked."
But AC Louisa Rolfe said "it can be really difficult to prove" when abuse has been a factor in a suicide, and that more prosecutions will rely on improvements in police investigations. She said changes would prevent abusers from harming anyone else, because "they do not stop at one victim." Nicholas Allen was jailed for 10 years for the manslaughter of Justene Reece, from Stafford, who killed herself in 2017 as a "direct result" of his behaviour.
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