SO IS THIS JUSTICE AT LAST FOR ABUSED WIVES?
Legal landmark as mother who killed husband with hammer wins appeal
A MOTHER who bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer after years of being abused had her murder conviction quashed yesterday.
Sally Challen’s court victory was described as a ‘watershed moment for victims of domestic violence’.
Cheers erupted from family, friends and supporters in the public gallery of Court 4 at London’s Royal Courts of Justice as Mrs Challen’s conviction was quashed. It is the first time pleas of being ‘coercively controlled’ have been raised in appealing a murder conviction.
Appearing via videolink from HMP Bronzefield in Surrey, Mrs Challen, 65, who has served eight years in custody, wept and hugged a prison officer.
But hopes that she would be released immediately were dashed when it was ruled the former Police Federation worker will face a murder retrial. A new jury will hear ‘fresh evidence’ which has emerged on
‘She is not a murderer today’
Mrs Challen’s mental state at the time of the killing in 2010. The case has been cited as a turning point in the quest for justice for victims of domestic abuse and has been supported by charities including Justice For Women.
It centres on the years of ‘coercive and controlling behaviour’ that Mrs Challen allegedly suffered at the hands of Richard Challen, her husband of 31 years.
The couple met when she was 15 and he was 22, but their relationship was said to have been marred by Mr Challen’s numerous affairs, intimidation and ‘gaslighting’ – a term used to describe making a partner feel as though they are going mad.
This specific type of abuse rose to public consciousness in 2016 when it featured in a storyline on The Archers, which may have partly inspired Mrs Challen to recognise herself as a victim of the behaviour, the court heard earlier.
Coercive and controlling behaviour became a criminal offence in 2015 – four years after she was convicted of murder. Her lawyers argued that had its impact been widely known at the time of the trial, the jury may have convicted Mrs Challen of the lesser charge of manslaughter.
They claimed that the harm caused as a result of coercive control, over years in which her husband controlled her finances, visited prostitutes and made her perform all household chores, was not sufficiently appreciated by psychiatrists at the time of the trial.
Lady Justice Hallett, sitting with Mr Justice Sweeney and Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb, said: ‘The Court of Appeal heard that, in the opinion of a consultant forensic psychiatrist, the appellant was suffering from two mental disorders at the time of the killing.
‘This evidence was not available at the time of the trial and the court quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.’
Mrs Challen’s barrister, Clare Wade QC, said her client’s personality disorder symptoms were suppressed by the coercive control she suffered at the hands of her husband.
‘She had a prior existing condition which meant that she was susceptible to coercive control and these symptoms did not emerge properly until the crisis happened, with which the trial was concerned.’
Miss Wade said Mrs Challen’s trial in 2011 had focused on infidelity rather than other relevant evidence, adding: ‘What they did was they then adduced only evidence that went back to 2004. The case was condensed down to something which in truth if all of her instructions and accounts were taken into account, was not the case.’
Lady Justice Hallett asked Miss Wade: ‘To get this straight in my mind, would a good working title be “psychological battered women syndrome”?’ Miss Wade said: ‘Yes, absolutely.
The ruling followed evidence from consultant forensic psychiatrist Dr Gwen Adshead, who interviewed Mrs Challen five years after the attack.
She said that in her opinion, Mrs Challen was suffering from a borderline personality disorder at the time of the killing, exacerbated by the abuse she was suffering. Speaking after the appeal judges’ ruling, Mrs Challen’s son David, 31, who has vigorously campaigned for justice for his mother, said: ‘This is a watershed moment for domestic violence in recognising coercive control.
‘We don’t want her to serve any more time in prison. She is not a murderer today.
‘That is the most amazing thing that has been recognised.
‘We want her to be free to live a good life and live an independent life that she has not lived since she was 15.’
Her solicitor Harriet Wistrich, who specialises in working with women who have been victims of abuse, said she spoke to Mrs Challen after the verdict.
‘She was very tearful but she is well supported where she is. It’s not all sunk in yet,’ she said.
She added that her legal team will apply for bail and try to avoid a retrial by offering a guilty plea to the charge of voluntary manslaughter.
The Court of Appeal earlier heard from an expert in coercive and controlling behaviour. Professor Evan Stark said it could produce ‘hostage-like conditions of entrapment... similar to that produced in prisoners of war’.
He added: ‘It achieves compliance essentially by making the victims afraid and... by depriving them of rights, resources and liberties without which they cannot effectively defend themselves, escape, refuse demands or resist.’
Claire Mawer, from Justice For Women, said: ‘I hope the interest in this case will provide a platform for a greater understanding of the appalling struggle that so many women going through the criminal justice system face.’