Access to pornography and the toxic manosphere may be fuelling domestic abuse cases involving teenagers, police have warned.
Rising Deaths and First Teen Suicide Case
Official figures have included the first case of suicide following domestic abuse where both the victim and suspect were aged under 18. The tragedy was among 150 suspected cases where abuse victims ended their lives in the year to March 2025, and one of 1,452 domestic abuse-related deaths across England and Wales in the five years to March 2025. There were 347 such deaths last year, an increase of 85 from the previous year, of which most are suspected suicides following domestic abuse.
Police Chiefs' Warning
Police chiefs today said the figures represent a 'stark reminder that for too many victims, abuse was ongoing and already known before their death'. They described how the prevalence of sexual content online and misogynistic social media 'influencers' — the subject of a recent Louis Theroux documentary — may shoulder some of the blame for young people becoming involved.
Metropolitan Police Assistant Commissioner Louisa Rolfe, national policing lead for domestic abuse, said: 'People are now much more likely to access violent pornography, which normalises violence and behavior in the relationship, and particularly non-fatal strangulation — hugely dangerous. There have been lots of surveys suggesting age groups who might participate in strangulation sex is much more prevalent in younger age groups and seen as normal... and much less likely to happen in an older age group.'
She added: 'We see the connection between the sort of sense of toxic influencers online and their views that are promoted about women and women's status in society, which just makes me incredibly sad.'
Statistics and Trends
The figures published in the annual Domestic Homicide Project show that a higher proportion of police-recorded domestic homicides were cases where a victim took their own life after suffering abuse, compared to those where a partner killed the victim. Analysis over the past five years found there have been four reported cases of suicides where the victim was under 16 and the perpetrator was over 18 — three involving an adult family member, and one an intimate partner.
Additional data from the Crime Survey of England and Wales for the year ending March 2025 showed that a significantly higher proportion of young people were victims of domestic abuse — aged 16 to 19 years old (18.2 percent) and aged 20 to 24 (12.9 per cent) — than those aged 25 and older.
Legal and Campaign Responses
In the past five years, there have been 17 cases where domestic abuse charges have been brought after a victim took their own life, three of which investigated possible manslaughter. There are expected to be seven more posthumous cases, and the number of these investigations is expected to rise.
Several cases have gone to court involving domestic abuse-related manslaughter, but there has only been one such conviction. This was the case of Nicholas Allen, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2017 after his ex-girlfriend Justene Reece killed herself as a 'direct result' of his controlling behaviour. Last week, jurors unanimously acquitted Christopher Trybus after he went on trial for manslaughter and controlling and coercive behaviour over the death of wife Tarryn Baird, who took her own life.
Campaigners want a new law to make suicide following domestic abuse a specific criminal offence separate from manslaughter, to make it easier for juries to understand. Frank Mullane from support service Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse said: 'We need a new law which separates suicide from domestic abuse, from manslaughter. I'm speculating that the average juror sees manslaughter as maybe a punch-up in a car park, other types of killing. I think if we separate suicide from domestic abuse, it will help educate the public.'
Jess Phillips, the Minister for Safeguarding and Violence Against Women and Girls, said the report reinforced 'the need for tougher action to stop perpetrators causing harm. She said: 'Every life lost to domestic abuse is a devastating tragedy, and my thoughts are with families and loved ones left grieving. Our Violence Against Women and Girls Strategy sets out how we are rooting out the causes of domestic abuse-related deaths and deploying the full power of the state to crack down on these vile crimes.'
