Revealed: The true toll of female suicides with domestic abuse at their core

If the Kent study reflects the UK picture, up to 1,500 domestic abuse victims take their own lives every year. Composite: Getty / Guardian Design

The number of women who are driven to suicide by domestic abusers is being under-reported, and their cases overlooked by police, in what has been described by experts as a “national scandal”.

Domestic violence suicides are already growing at such a rate that a woman in an abusive relationship is now more likely to take her own life than be killed by a partner.