Families of domestic abuse victims driven to suicide criticise ‘postcode lottery’ of coroner’s courts

It is up to each coroner to decide whether they will look at just the days before a person’s death, or hear evidence from a wider timeframe. Photograph: Boy_Anupong/Getty Images

Coroner’s courts in England have been criticised by families of domestic violence victims for an unwillingness to consider how abuse can drive people to suicide.

Grieving loved ones of those who have taken their own lives after abuse said it was not a “joined-up process” whether inquests into suicide deaths consider the treatment victims were subjected to while they were alive.