Sally Challen was subjected to a false narrative by a criminal justice system that painted her as “a controlling and jealous lover who planned to kill her husband”, her son has said.

In doing so it failed to recognise the decades of abuse and coercive control she had suffered at his hands, David Challen writes in an article for today’s Observer that is heavily critical of how abused women continue to be viewed by the courts, a concern that women’s rights campaigners said they shared.

Sally Challen, 65, was jailed for life for the murder of her husband in 2010, but the conviction was quashed and a new trial ordered for next month. The Crown accepted her plea to the lesser charge of manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility, meaning she had served her time in prison.

Associate Rebecca Christie commented:

“The judgment shows a greater understanding by the courts of the effects of psychological abuse and reflects the view of those living in modern-day Britain, that domestic abuse can not only be defined as physical but also emotional, financial or sexual.”

Read the full article in The Guardian here, which was also syndicated in Yahoo! News.