Campaigners, police and lawyers are backing calls for a new law to hold domestic abusers responsible when their victims die by suicide, following cases like that of Kiena Dawes, whose abuser was cleared of manslaughter.
Kiena's Law: A New Offence
Kiena's Law would create a standalone offence for domestic abuse-related suicide. Campaigners also want coercive and controlling behaviour included in the 'dangerous offender' framework, allowing extended sentences.
Kiena's mother, Angela Dawes, said: 'My girl didn't want to die. My girl wanted to live. But she lived in fear.'
No one in England or Wales has ever been convicted by a jury of manslaughter in relation to domestic abuse victims driven to suicide. Yet women in abusive relationships are now more likely to kill themselves than die at the hands of a partner.
Rising Numbers, Few Prosecutions
The Domestic Homicide Project, led by the National Police Chiefs' Council, recorded 150 suspected domestic abuse-related suicides in England and Wales in its latest annual report, up from 98 the previous year and higher than the 80 intimate partner homicides.
Only 3% of such cases result in prosecution. There has been just one manslaughter conviction: Nicholas Allen, who pleaded guilty and was jailed for 10 years in 2017.
Conference and Petition Launch
Lancashire's Police and Crime Commissioner Clive Grunshaw, with charity Advocacy After Fatal Domestic Abuse (AAFDA), hosted a conference in Blackpool last month to launch a petition for Kiena's Law.
Grunshaw told Metro: 'If you can imagine the pain, the anguish, the trauma that somebody must be in for them to be in such circumstances that they feel that taking their own life is the only escape from the abuse they're enduring, it is horrendous.'
Frank Mullane, founder of AAFDA, said law change is critical. He told Metro juries are 'struggling' with the link between domestic abuse and suicide and the legal concept of 'causation'.
Challenges in Prosecution
Causation requires proof that a defendant's conduct contributed significantly to a victim's death. Problems arise because the victim is often not near the defendant at death, suicide may be seen as a 'choice', and the victim's voice is absent from the witness box.
Dr Anne Lodge, senior lecturer in law at Teesside University, told Metro: 'Too often, suicide is treated as a completely independent choice of the victim. But where someone has been subjected to years of coercive control, their autonomy may have been so eroded that they no longer see any other way out – they may be effectively stripped of their freedom to make choices.'
Research Findings
Tim Woodhouse, suicide prevention researcher at the University of Kent, found one in three suicides in the county between 2018 and 2024 were impacted by domestic abuse. Nationwide, that could mean as many as 1,000 domestic abuse victims taking their lives each year.
Woodhouse told Metro: 'Being physically abused, sexually attacked and emotionally tortured, week after week, month after month, is clearly exceptionally damaging to anyone's mental health.'
Voices from the Conference
Phyllis Daly, mother of Jessica Laverack, whose inquest in 2022 was the first to link domestic abuse and suicide, told the conference coercive control 'leaves few visible signs, but can destroy a victim's life'. She added: 'Sustained domestic abuse that ends in suicide is not incidental. It's a foreseeable outcome, a preventable outcome, and accountability has to follow.'
One survivor spoke publicly for the first time: 'I didn't want to end my life. I wanted the fear to end. I wanted the intrusive thoughts to end. I wanted to feel safe again.'
Political Support
Local MPs Chris Webb and Lorraine Beavers pledged to campaign for Kiena's Law. Jess Phillips, former minister for safeguarding and violence against women and girls, told the conference 'justice is evading us' but said the issue is 'a fundamental part' of the government's VAWG strategy.
A Government spokesperson said: 'We are committed to halving violence against women and girls, and our thoughts remain with all those who have lost loved ones as a result of domestic abuse. The Law Commission is currently reviewing homicide law, including the use of manslaughter offences where abuse may have driven someone to suicide.'
Kiena's Story
During Ryan Wellings' trial, the jury heard he was an 'entitled, aggressive bully' who slapped Kiena and 'ragged' her by her hair, and threatened to use a drill on her teeth or throw acid in her face. A final assault left her needing hospital treatment; she made a statement to police, but Wellings broke bail conditions and was not locked up. Four days later she killed herself.
In her suicide note, she wrote: 'I was murdered. Ryan Wellings killed me. He ruined every bit of strength I had left.'
Wellings' defence team described Kiena as a 'very troubled young lady' who ended her life due to 'multiple factors' including the loss of her father.
Mullane said: 'Kiena's Law represents an opportunity to recognise the devastating and sometimes fatal consequences of coercive and controlling behaviour, improve accountability and help prevent future deaths.'
Mrs Dawes added: 'Girls shouldn't have to die to be heard, and my daughter had to die to be heard. Nothing is ever going to bring my baby back, but if we can change things moving forward, I'd hate to see another family go through what we've been through.'
