I'm glad Sally Challen is out.

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

I don’t know the details of the case.

But murder??

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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

now wish there was an edit option on here

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.

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.

It would not be easy to leave a man like that, Urmstongran
She would have been the subject of a type of brainwashing.

The sons may not have known any different when they were young, perhaps she protected them or they thought it was normal behaviour.

I hope Sally finds some peace. She has already paid the price.

I am glad too, she has served a long sentence. I am sadly not surprised that some people blame the woman in these circumstances, it is not easy to leave. Thank you for sharing your daughter's experience blondenanna
The more people speak out, the more understanding there will be for women in these situations.

Blondenanna only wanted an edit button cos she put nor instead of now.

Ah!
Don't worry then, blondenana
I am always making mistakes - fat finger rather than an inability to spell!

Its ok Callistemon yes i was only meaning that i wished there was an edit button for spelling errors,thanks anyway

Ilovecheese thank you, i think a lot of people don;t realise how difficult it is to leave abusive men [or women] and unless you have personal experience of abuse ,even emotional abuse .it is easy to say why didn;t they leave
Emotional abuse is worse in some ways because there is nothing to see, no bruises etc,so often no proof

I agree with this decision, unless you have been in a situation like hers it is difficult to understand what made her “break”.

I can see where she was coming from I have lived through psychological and physical abuse , control and being made into an unimportant unheard insignificant person
but ....she ‘drew a hammer out of her handbag’ and I can’t understand how that could be manslaughter as surely it was pre medicated ? It took me 12 years to leave but it would never have entered my head to kill the man I loved and I did love him, to release myself
I could understand more if he was taunting her and she picked up a knife in terror or anger but having a hammer in her bag was cool and calculating and that I don’t understand having said that she has served 9 years so done a sentence but I don’t feel it should be applauded and she’s made into a heroine, there are better ways to escape
A very sad story all round

I suppose that's the reason it was murder rather than manslaughter at the first trial, BlueBelle. I'm relieved the Court acknowledged 'new psychiatric evidence' . That should have been obvious at the time though, by 2010 the research into the psychological and psychiatric impact of long term emotional abuse was well known. I worked with children an in the 1980's when we were well aware that children who had suffered significant emotional abuse were likely to have life long psychological or psychiatric difficulties.

It's hard to understand the impact of this type of abuse on the victim. Some people are stronger emotionally than others, I can understand Sally Challoner doing what she did but agree it shouldn't be treated as an heroic act. If this helps others and raises awareness of the issues then that can only be a good thing.
Blondenana I'm sorry to hear your daughter's story, what a terrible and frightening time for you all. I hope she has a happy life with her new partner.