\n<\/p>\n
On the night of 27 July 2023, Kimberly Milne jumped to her death from a road bridge.<\/p>\n
Her suicide came after months of mental health crises, compounded by a campaign of domestic abuse at the hands of her former partner. In this regard, to the officers who attended the scene, Kimberly\u2019s was a depressingly familiar story.<\/p>\n
What those officers could not have known is that the tragedy that unfolded on that summer evening would take on a unique significance, culminating in a prosecution that, almost three years later, would make British legal history.<\/p>\n
Kimberly\u2019s estranged husband, Lee Milne, 40, was interviewed at a police station less than a mile from the scene shortly afterwards. It emerged that, in the minutes before she took her own life, he had followed Kimberly, 28, on to the bridge.<\/p>\n
When Kimberly died, Milne was on bail accused of a catalogue of domestic abuse offences and banned from contacting her. However, numerous witnesses recalled seeing them together at a retail park in Dundee on the night of her death. They remembered Kimberly \u201ccowering\u201d as Milne shouted at her and trapped her against a wall. One witness said Kimberly looked \u201cvery distraught\u201d.<\/p>\n
CCTV footage showed Milne driving erratically while Kimberly was in his car, then remonstrating with her in a supermarket. About half an hour later, Kimberly climbed across the barrier of a bridge above the A90 road that links Dundee and Aberdeen. Milne told officers that he had run towards Kimberly because he wanted to stop her from jumping, but she had let go of the railings.<\/p>\n
<\/span>CCTV shows Lee and Kimberley arguing on the day she took her own life<\/span><\/p>\n The Guardian has spent months studying the cases of women who take their own lives after prolonged abuse in intimate relationships. Analysis by academics suggests that victims of domestic abuse are now more likely die by suicide than be killed by a partner. In the vast majority of these cases, alleged abusers are not investigated for their role in a partner\u2019s suicide. In some cases, existing domestic abuse investigations have been closed without explanation shortly after the alleged victim\u2019s death.<\/p>\n However, in Kimberly\u2019s case, prosecutors sought to answer a \u201ccomplex question\u201d.<\/p>\n Led by Laura Buchan, the legal director at Scotland\u2019s Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service, the prosecution posited: \u201cCan a partner be held criminally responsible for the death of a victim who has taken their own life following a course of domestic abuse?\u201d<\/p>\n The trial that followed marked a significant legal milestone: Milne was found guilty of culpable homicide and engaging in abusive conduct. He is the first person anywhere in Britain to have been convicted by a jury of killing a former partner after prolonged domestic abuse, despite not physically causing her death.<\/p>\n On Friday, at the high court in Glasgow, Kimberly\u2019s family cried and embraced in the public gallery as Milne was jailed for eight years. Sentencing him, the judge, Lady Drummond, said that she could do nothing to bring Kimberly back, or ease the grief of her devastated loved ones. \u201cBy the jury\u2019s verdict, you must bear responsibility not only for all of your abusive acts but for causing her death,\u201d she told Milne.<\/p>\n Kimberly grew up in a close-knit family in Dundee \u2013 her mother and sisters described her as \u201cone in a million\u201d in victim impact statements provided to the court \u2013 but her life was blighted by mental health problems. She once predicted that she would not live beyond the age of 21.<\/p>\n As a child, she was sectioned several times. She was diagnosed with a personality disorder, and, at times, she tried to numb the pain with illegal drugs. \u201cKimberly wanted to be normal like everybody else,\u201d her mother, Lynne Bruce, told Milne\u2019s trial. \u201cShe couldn\u2019t understand why she wasn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n Bruce described her daughter as being \u201cliked a coiled spring\u201d. \u201cSometimes she used to self-medicate,\u201d she said. \u201cKimberly never had a nice life, she was in periods of turmoil.\u201d<\/p>\n In 2020, Kimberly survived a suicide attempt. The next year, she met Milne online. According to her younger sister, Nicky Bruce, he presented as a \u201cknight in shining armour\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cShe just wanted to be loved,\u201d Nicky told the court. At first, the relationship appeared to be going well, and the couple became engaged. But soon, cracks began to show.<\/p>\n <\/span>Kimberly Milne\u2019s death came after months of mental health crises compounded by a campaign of domestic abuse at the hands of her former partner. Lee Milne. <\/span> Photograph: Facebook<\/p>\n The jury accepted that Milne had become abusive towards Kimberly before they married in October 2022. In the months before the wedding, he shouted and swore at her, called her derogatory names and attacked her several times. On one occasion, he prevented her from leaving his flat.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t think Kim wanted to be married,\u201d Nicky said. \u201cI think he just filled her head with absolute gobbledegook. I think he made her feel like the family didn\u2019t love her.\u201d<\/p>\n In evidence, Kimberly\u2019s older sister, Lynsey Anderson, recalled that, the day after the wedding, Kimberly was \u201cin a mess\u201d after a fight with Milne. Anderson said she called a taxi to take Kimberly to their grandmother\u2019s house. \u201cHe\u2019d put her out. She was hyperventilating, crying and asking me to get her home.\u201d<\/p>\n Anderson told the court that she saw bruises on Kimberly\u2019s neck and arm during the relationship and, on one occasion, she noticed a bite mark. \u201cYou could see the teeth,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was like an indentation in an apple when you take a bite out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n Morgan Wilson, a community mental health nurse, noted that Kimberly described Milne as a \u201cmanipulator\u201d who tried to \u201cmake her feel she is losing her mind\u201d. The court heard that, in February 2023, during a period of separation, he sent Kimberly \u201can image of himself with a needle in his neck\u201d saying \u201cshe would be responsible for his death\u201d.<\/p>\n <\/span>Lee Milne threatened suicide if Kimberly left him.<\/span> Photograph: Crown Office\/PA<\/p>\n Kimberly made several attempts to end the relationship, but told her family Milne would repeatedly threaten suicide. \u201cHow can I leave him if he\u2019s saying he\u2019s gonna do himself in without me?\u201d she said in one message. In another series of texts, sent to Milne, she said: \u201cYou berated me last night and choked me until I was nearly unconscious \u2026 You really don\u2019t care, do you? This is over.\u201d Milne replied: \u201cI am ashamed you don\u2019t deserve that. I\u2019m sorry.\u201d<\/p>\n In May 2023, Kimberly received inpatient treatment at the Carseview Centre, an NHS mental health facility in Dundee, after a suicide attempt. She told staff she had suffered physical abuse and \u201cmental torture\u201d at Milne\u2019s hands for almost two years. She agreed to make a statement to police and described in detail the abuse she had suffered from early on in the relationship until her admission to hospital. This included an incident where she barricaded the living room door with a table after Milne choked her. She said Milne had forced entry and continued to attack her.<\/p>\n \u201cLee repeatedly punched my ribs and I was begging him not to hurt me but he was not listening,\u201d she said. \u201cI felt unsafe so I decided not to leave that night. I slept with a knife under my pillow as I was so frightened of him.\u201d<\/p>\n Milne appeared at Dundee sheriff court later that month, in connection with domestic abuse offences. He was granted bail on the condition he did not approach or attempt to contact Kimberly. He repeatedly violated these restrictions and, in the week before her death, threatened her while brandishing a pole.<\/p>\n When Milne left the police station on the morning of 28 July, he decided to break the news of Kimberly\u2019s death to her mother. Lynne Bruce was woken by his knock at her door.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I answered, he said something along the lines of: \u2018Kim has gone\u2019,\u201d Bruce recalled in a police statement. \u201cI didn\u2019t know what he was on about and he came in the house \u2026 He then said Kim had gone up to the bridge and he had chased her. He tried to grab her hands and she looked up at him, shook her head before jumping off.\u201d Bruce said she was devastated by her daughter\u2019s death.<\/p>\n <\/span>Police initially treated Kimberly\u2019s death as unexplained.<\/span> Photograph: Facebook<\/p>\n Police initially treated Kimberly\u2019s death as unexplained, and sought to track down witnesses who had seen the former couple in the hours beforehand. As a fuller picture emerged, the prospect of charging Milne with culpable homicide was discussed. Scotland has a different legal system to England and Wales, and the offence of culpable homicide is similar to manslaughter.<\/p>\n Alex Prentice KC, a leading criminal lawyer who went on to prosecute the case, was asked to advise officers on whether Milne could be charged with killing Kimberly, although no one had ever been convicted of culpable homicide in Scotland after a domestic abuse related suicide.<\/p>\n There was arguably just one comparable case anywhere in the UK. In 2017, at Stafford crown court, the stalker Nicholas Allen admitted the manslaughter of his former partner, Justene Reece, who killed herself after a six-month campaign of threats and harassment. However, at the time of Kimberly\u2019s death, no jury anywhere in Britain had reached a guilty verdict in a case of this nature.<\/p>\n Prentice said that there were initially mixed views on whether the available evidence would support a culpable homicide charge. He told officers they would have to find evidence of a \u201ccausal connection\u201d between the domestic abuse and Kimberly\u2019s death.<\/p>\n \u201cI looked at it and, at the early stage, my view was it needed more work done, but I could not say that a causal connection could not be made,\u201d Prentice said. \u201cIf we could establish this course of continual abusive behaviour to the extent that Kimberly felt that there was nowhere to go, and that the only way out was to take her own life, it seemed to me possible that a culpable homicide charge could be brought. Further work was done by the police on my instruction.\u201d<\/p>\n Milne was charged with culpable homicide and domestic abuse offences in September 2023. While awaiting trial, he sexually assaulted two primary school aged boys. He was sentenced to a three-year supervision order and placed on the sex offender register after a three-day trial at Forfar sheriff court in Angus. This conviction was revealed by the local newspaper, the Courier, after he was found guilty of killing Kimberly.<\/p>\n Milne chose not to give evidence in his own defence during his trial, which began in February at the high court in Glasgow. His defence counsel, Mark Stewart KC, argued that Kimberly\u2019s longstanding mental health issues had played a central role in her decision to jump to her death.<\/p>\n However, in his closing speech, prosecutor Prentice asked jurors to consider the impact of prolonged domestic abuse on Kimberly\u2019s already fragile state of mind.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople sometimes make assumptions about domestic abuse and the circumstances in which it happens,\u201d he said. \u201cYou must set such assumptions to one side. It might be counterintuitive to think, if Kimberly Milne was really, truly unhappy this marriage, why didn\u2019t she just leave? Well, where was she going to go? It\u2019s not always possible to just leave.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Milne was found guilty of culpable homicide and domestic abuse on 2 March.<\/span> Photograph: Spindrift<\/p>\n Milne was found guilty of culpable homicide and domestic abuse on 2 March and remanded in custody to await sentence. Kimberly\u2019s family\u2019s relief at the verdict was laced with anger. Lynsey Anderson, Kimberly\u2019s older sister, told journalists: \u201cHe is a monster lurking in the dark waiting for his next victim. We know now he won\u2019t be able to victimise anyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n However, when Milne returned to the court for sentencing on Friday, Lady Drummond said he had failed to fully appreciate the gravity of his actions. Drummond said a custodial sentence was the \u201conly appropriate disposal\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cFollowing your actions, Kimberly Milne reached a point of despair, such that she climbed over the barrier of a road bridge and fell to her death,\u201d she said. Milne showed no emotion as he was led from the dock.<\/p>\n Almost 80 miles away, in Dundee, the bridge over the section of road where Kimberly died remains a memorial to her. Fixed to the railings are purple ribbons and bouquets of flowers, some in personalised vases from family members. Drummond, the judge, acknowledged their pain: \u201cThey are devastated by her death. Nothing I can say or do today will bring her back or ease their grief.\u201d<\/p>\n Staff at the local branch of Women\u2019s Aid said they hoped Milne\u2019s conviction would help raise awareness so other domestic abuse cases would be taken more seriously.<\/p>\n For Prentice, the breakthrough is a moment which could cause prosecutors to rethink their approach to domestic abuse-linked suicides.<\/p>\n He said that prosecutors in Scotland would look \u201cvery closely\u201d at similar cases in light of the verdict. \u201cI don\u2019t have the impression this will open floodgates because they are difficult cases and we have to justify bringing an indictment on the evidence and with a careful analysis,\u201d he said. \u201cBut it\u2019s been done now, so that means in suitable cases, it will be done again.\u201d<\/p>\n In the UK, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123 and the domestic abuse helpline is 0808 2000 247. In the US, the suicide prevention lifeline is 988 and the domestic violence hotline is 1-800-799-SAFE (7233). In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is on 13 11 14 and the national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732. Other international helplines can be found via www.befrienders.org<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" On the night of 27 July 2023, Kimberly Milne jumped to her death from a road bridge. Her suicide came after months of mental health crises, compounded by a campaign of domestic abuse at the hands of her former partner. In this regard, to the officers who attended the scene, Kimberly\u2019s was a depressingly familiar<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":48198,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[682,336,1442,1386,145,24182,324,1522,1217,1115],"class_list":{"0":"post-48197","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-crime-justice","8":"tag-abuse","9":"tag-british","10":"tag-changed","11":"tag-domestic","12":"tag-history","13":"tag-kimberlys","14":"tag-legal","15":"tag-story","16":"tag-suicide","17":"tag-tragedy"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=48197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/48198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=48197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=48197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=48197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}