TRAPPED AND MANIPULATED
Who is Sally Challen and why was she released from prison?
SALLY Challen spent nine years in prison after she admitted to bludgeoning her abusive husband to death with a hammer.
She was initially given a life sentence in 2011. Here's what we know.
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Who is Sally Challen?
Sally Challen, 65, is a domestic abuse survivor.
She was born in Walton-on-Thames in 1954.
When she was five her father died of a heart attack and her mother did not consider it appropriate for her daughter to pursue a career.
She suffered years of coercive abuse and mental torture at the hands of her husband Richard, 61.
Her lawyer Clare Wade QC previously told a court her husband Mr Challen was "domineering and controlling".
He made "humiliating comments about her weight", put her down and criticised her "at all turns", Ms Wade said.
Mr Challen posed on a Ferrari next to top models and had the photo made into a Christmas card sent to their mutual friends.
The court heard "Richard pulled the strings and Sally danced".
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Mrs Challen was left "utterly betrayed" by her husband's use of prostitutes, the court was told.
It was not until she saw a news item about one of the brothels having trafficked women that she resolved to leave him in 2009, Ms Wade said.
By April 2010, she was unhappy living alone and desperate to go back to her husband.
When she asked him to take her back, he responded with a series of conditions, including to "give up your constant interruptions when I am speaking".
She became suspicious and anxious that he was "messing her about" but was unable to confront him, describing herself as a "meek little mouse".
On the day of the killing, it was Mr Challen's words "Don't question me" that caused her to "flip" and hit him with the hammer, the court was told.
Why was she released from prison?
Sally's murder conviction was quashed last year after the Court of Appeal accepted she was the victim of domestic abuse and mental disorders.
In a statement, her son James said: "We have lost a father and we do not seek to justify our mother's actions."
But he said his mother "does not deserve to be punished further".
Her other son David was "overjoyed, adding: "It has brought an end to the suffering we have endured together."
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Mrs Challen also told The Sun: "I loved the ideal of Richard if that makes sense. I suppose it doesn't make sense.
"I've had five years of therapy to try and explain it."
Justice for Women said it hoped to appeal against ten similar cases.
Sally Challen says she still loves her husband Richard after killing him with a hammer
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