VIOLENT men who drive their wives to suicide could be charged with killing them under proposed changes to the law.

The new offence of “liability for suicide” would be used where women have taken their own lives after a prolonged campaign of domestic abuse by their husbands or partners.

Senior police officers want the change in part to tackle so-called “honour violence” against women trapped in forced marriages.

The proposal echoes a 25-year-old “abetment to suicide” law used in India to prosecute husbands or other family members for cruelty.

Evidence suggests south Asian women under 30 living in the UK are 2½ times more likely to kill themselves than whites.

Current laws focus too much on the need for a single incident which triggered the suicide attempt, the review by the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) said.

In future, a “course of conduct” offence would allow prosecutors to find men responsible if their violence and abuse was sustained over a longer period of time, following a Swedish domestic violence law.

The review said such a change could be a “powerful deterrent” to abusers.

It states: “There is much reliable evidence to suggest a causal link between domestic violence and other forms of interpersonal violence and suicide... and some that looks at the increased vulnerability of some ethnic groups to suicide and self harm.

“Existing legal provisions rely too heavily on biomedical models, and focus on single incidents.

“A shift to a ’course of conduct’ or causation, following the Indian or Swedish model, may lead to the possibility of justice for women who attempt or commit suicide in domestic violence cases, and may provide a powerful deterrent to abusers who presently escape sanction for their behaviour if a victim chooses to take her own life.”

It is estimated a third of women who commit suicide were victims of domestic violence.

The review, which was commissioned by former Home Secretary Jacqui Smith, also suggests that the country’s estimated 25,000 serial domestic abusers be registered on a police database.

Officers could then inform new girlfriends or partners about the man’s history of violence.

Offenders who repeatedly beat women in their lives would have to notify police if they moved house or changed their name.