Can suicide be grounds for a manslaughter charge?

A woman, with a history of self-harm, falls out with her partner. After a heavy night out, she goes to the police and claims she has been raped by her boyfriend. However, five days later, she kills herself.

Today, the boyfriend was formally cleared of rape because no evidence was offered - his accuser having died. However, the interesting aspect is that the Crown Prosecution Service seriously considered a manslaughter charge against him, on the grounds that his deceased partner had killed herself because she was raped.

The offence of manslaughter is committed, among other things, if someone does something illegal which has the consequence of causing death. For example, if someone was punched in the face, fell to the ground and hit their head causing them to die, it would be manslaughter rather than murder because there was no intention to kill or cause really serious harm.

Extending this to the reaction of someone to a non-murderous crime seems mad. Yes, if he raped her, throw the book at him. But we have a choice about whether we kill ourselves. It is one thing to punish someone for the lethal consequences of relatively minor wrong-doing. It's quite another to be responsible for the considered choice of an autonomous human being days later.

Man cleared in suicide rape case