Domestic abusers are driving women to kill themselves, councillors and health chiefs were told today (Tuesday 16 December), with six deaths currently under review in Brighton and Hove alone.
Three of those were suicides, the meeting at Hove Town Hall was told, with domestic abuse accounting for more than 10 per cent of all recorded crime in the city in 2023-24.
In the same year, more than a thousand women were victims of serious sex offences in Brighton and Hove – about 20 a week.
And there were 460 cases of stalking – almost 10 a week. Some involved violence and, in a growing number of cases, the perpetrators have ended up in court.
The sobering figures were presented to Brighton and Hove City Council’s Health and Wellbeing Board along with a strategy and action plan to prevent and tackle violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence.
A report on the strategy and action plan said: “Violence against women and girls, domestic abuse and sexual violence … contribute significantly to premature mortality among those affected.
“Between July 2024 and June 2025, 903 cases were referred to the Brighton and Hove MARAC (Multi-Agency Risk Assessment Conference) to reduce harm to high-risk victims.
“Of these, 39 per cent (352 cases) involved individuals with a disability or mental health issue.”
The MARAC is attended by the police, social workers and health staff along with other professionals including an independent domestic violence adviser.
The report also said: “The National Police Chiefs’ Council has acknowledged that, since 2023, the number of suicide-related domestic abuse deaths has exceeded the number of domestic abuse homicides nationally.
“Currently, the (Brighton and Hove) Community Safety Partnership is managing six active domestic abuse related death reviews including three suicide-related reviews in 2025.”
Labour councillor Emma Daniel spoke about the strategy and wrote the foreword, saying: “There are four priorities laid out in this strategy – stronger co-ordinated community response, prioritising prevention, support for survivors and building an accountable community and changing perpetrator behaviour.”
The strategy included more figures including the number of offences of rape recorded by police nationally – 67,938 in 2023, with only 2,008 convictions, “highlighting a significant gap in outcomes for survivors”.
The strategy said: “The backlog of sexual offense cases in the crown court has reached a record high, with 10,141 cases awaiting trial – an increase of 21 per cent from 2022 and a 196 per cent rise compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019.”
In Brighton and Hove, it said, there were even eight recorded cases of so-called “honour-based” violence and, in the BN postcode area, 15 new cases of female genital mutilation.
Not all the victims of domestic and sexual violence and abuse were women and not all the perpetrators were men although women and girls were more likely to be victims.
The strategy recognised that abusers and victims often have other difficulties such as a background of being abused as a child or a drink or drugs problem.
A new oversight board will be expected to monitor whether the council, police, health service and others are putting the fine words in the strategy into practice.
Trying to report abuse as a male in Brighton is almost impossible. Not believed unfortunately.
In the UK, males account for around three-quarters (74%) of all suicides. In England and Wales, the male suicide rate in 2024 was 17.6 deaths per 100,000 people, which is more than three times higher than the female rate. Suicide is the leading cause of death for men under the age of 50 in the UK.
Abuse is abuse , female or male