I'm glad Sally Challen is out.

blondenana you could ask for your post to be deleted if you feel that you have shared too much
Just report your own post and explain why.

She was emotionally abused and controlled from age 15 when she met the man. Women in those relationships leave, return, leave return like Groundhog Day.
I despair that some women still blame the woman in this kind of situation. There is so much research evidence about the impact of abuse. It's also more likely that women who kill or assault their abuser will receive a harsh sentence, than would a man in their situation.
Of course I'm not defending any kind of violence but how often do we read of men being given a sentence much lighter than this woman received, with the Court pointing to behaviour from the female partner that was provocative?
I'm glad she's free. I just watched one of her sons interviewed. He feels shame that he and his brother gradually realised their mother was being abused but that at her trial in 2010 they didn't have the words or the understanding to describe the abuse that she experienced.

now wish there was an edit option on here

Thank you Gonegirl it was about 20 years ago now, she has been with her partner nor for 3 years

Blondenanna I hope all goes well for your DD and her partner.

It isn;t always easy to leave someone as controlling as her husband, as i know for sure
My daughter was married to a very controlling man he watched her every move, she even had to work with him, she once rang me in tears when he had slipped out to his brothers next door, she was terrified of him, i told her to ring 999 and leave the phone off the hook in case he came back if she didnt have time to speak to the police, as i had read that the police would trace the call,they did and brought her to me, [landline]
He used to keep a knife above the bed ,and had several guns, i often saw her with bruises but he was always with her and made excuses, most were in places you couldn;t see, but she had some behind her ear,but had to say she had banged her head on something
After she came to me he rang several times and threatened to shoot both of us,
He was eventually put in prison, and she was allowed back to her home ,with panic buttons, and when he was due out she came back here
The bad thing about that was he was mainly charged for firearms offences, not much for what he did to her
Anyway in the end he hanged himself, best thing he could have done, but she had a breakdown and was ill for quite a long time
She has now got a lovely partner who keeps asking her to marry him, she might one day i hope

She was imprisoned for 9 years so has done her time. Now she is free to enjoy the rest of her life with her sons who love her and free of the man who abused her.

Because there were no visible wounds on the woman is the reason why she was sent to prison. Psychological crimes can prove difficult to detect .
Reading the case it's clear that she was severely psychologically abused to such an extent that she could no longer control her mental state.
My only concern with this is that it could set a precedent for other women to claim psychological abuse.

I'm not saying that her monster of a husband didn't deserve being killed, he did but there is so much domestic abuse which includes narcissistic and controlling behaviour that any court of law is going to find it difficult should there be future cases like this one----against copy-cat murders which could or could not be genuine.

I am pleased that Sally Challen will not face a re trial. She certainly didn’t get away Scott free. She had served 9 years in prison.

Richard Challen was unfaithful throughout the marriage and frequently visited brothels. Sally Challen moved out of the family home in 2009 but was said to still be emotionally dependent on her husband. When she discovered he had contacted another woman, she hit him more than 20 times with a hammer.

The appeal court was told she had two mental disorders at the time of the killing, and that her condition was likely to have been made worse by the coercive control.

She did leave him, went back for a reconciliation and took a hammer with her

She says she still loves him. I think she was under his spell, as well as his thumb.

From what I have read, she has had the full support of her two sons. The decision today was that it was manslaughter and emotional abuse was at the heart of it.

Could she not have left him instead of staying, snapping then murdering him?

I don’t know the details of the case.

But murder??