Key Highlights
- When she did, police dropped domestic violence inquiryAfter her death, police dropped a case examining Katie Madden’s former partner, despite evidence he had repeatedly told her to kill herself Revealed: The true toll of female suicides in UK with domestic abuse at their core Hours before Katie Madden took her own life, she had a tense phone call with her former partner Jonathon Russell.
- Russell was on bail after allegedly assaulting Madden – he was banned from contacting her – but the conversation took place nevertheless. There was a witness to the call who gave evidence to the inquest into Madden’s death.
- Mason Jones, a friend of Madden’s, said Russell was “vile” and “abusive”.
- Although Jones said he could not remember the exact words Russell used, he said: “I recall Jon saying at least once that he was in control of the town and would end her life if she didn’t do it herself.”In evidence, Russell denied saying this, but he did admit he had encouraged Madden to kill herself before this. In the days leading up to Madden’s death, her mother, Bernadette Sutton, had told police and social services that she was concerned about the threat Russell posed to her daughter.
- “By this point, I thought he would kill her or she would take her own life,” Sutton said, in a statement. Nigel Parsley, the coroner, concluded that Madden died by suicide while the balance of her mind was disturbed, but he also cited her relationship with Russell, with whom she had two children, as a contributory factor.“Kate’s toxic relationship, in conjunction with Kate’s known mental health conditions, affected her state of mind and therefore contributed to her death,” he said. The circumstances surrounding Madden’s death are no doubt tragic, but they are also an example of an increasingly controversial area of UK justice, one which has been described as a blind spot in the law’s ability to see the growing numbers of suicides among domestic abuse victims as something more: evidence of potential crimes. Analysis seen by the Guardian suggests that growing numbers of victims of domestic violence are taking their own lives.
