There is currently a national focus on the prevalence of domestic abuse-related deaths by suicide, and there are at least three ongoing reviews into suspected victim suicide following domestic abuse (SVSDA) in Herefordshire.
The National Policing Vulnerability Knowledge and Practice Programme (VKPP) Domestic Homicide Project Annual Report for 2024 for the first time has domestic abuse related suicides as higher than domestic abuse related homicide. The report examines all deaths identified by the police as DA related to improve understanding of risk indicators, victim, and perpetrator demographics. The unique dataset collects detailed information on these deaths not available from any other source to help police and partners improve their response to domestic abuse, domestic homicide and victim suicide following domestic abuse. DHR reports<https://www.vkpp.org.uk/vkpp-work/domestic-homicide-project/>.
Key findings from the 2022-2023 report are that there were a total of 242 domestic abuse related deaths recorded between April 2022 to March 2023 in the UK, including:
· 93 suspected victim suicide following domestic abuse (SVSDA) , with coercive control as the most significant factor
· 80 intimate partner homicides (IPH)
· 31 adult family homicides (AFH)
· 23 unexpected deaths
· 11 child deaths
· 4 ‘other’ deaths (individuals living together who are not family members or intimate partners).