A woman who spent nearly a decade behind bars for killing her abusive husband in a hammer attack has walked free from the Old Bailey after being sentenced to nine years and four months for the manslaughter of her husband, which is time already served.
Georgina Challen, 65, claimed she suffered years of controlling and humiliating abuse before she killed 61-year-old Richard Challen in August 2010.
The mother-of-two, who is known as Sally, had been jailed for life for the murder of the former car dealer following a trial at Guildford Crown Court in 2011.
But her conviction was quashed and a new trial ordered at the Court of Appeal in London in February, in light of new evidence about her mental state at the time.
There were cheers outside court as a tearful Mrs Challen emerged alongside her sons David and James, who have campaigned for her release.
Thanking her legal team and family, she said: “It’s been a long road.
“They have served my sentence with me. Their visits and phone calls have kept me going throughout what has been a long and terrible nine years.
“I’m just so happy I can now live my life again.”
But she added: “Many other women who are victims of abuse as I was are in prison today serving life sentences.
“I know because I have met them. They should be serving manslaughter not murder.
“I just hope the criminal justice system will recognise that abuse happens and they should take it more seriously.”
Mrs Challen, of Claygate, Surrey, admitted manslaughter but pleaded not guilty to murdering her husband on August 14 2010 and was due to face a fresh trial on July 1.
But at a hearing before Mr Justice Edis at the Old Bailey on Friday, the prosecution announced the Crown accepted her plea to the lesser charge and that she would not have to face a retrial.
Prosecutor Caroline Carberry QC said the plea was accepted following a psychiatric report which concluded Mrs Challen was suffering an “adjustment disorder”.
Mr Justice Edis told Mrs Challen that he would impose a “substantial determinate sentence”, but one which she will have already served.
The judge said the killing came after “years of controlling, isolating and humiliating conduct” with the added provocation of her husband’s “serial multiple infidelity”.
He told her: “You felt trapped and manipulated because you were trapped and manipulated.”
At a previous hearing, Mrs Challen had been released on bail into the care of her sons, James and David, who have supported her throughout her legal ordeal.
Previously, she had been held in custody at HMP Bronzefield.
After the hearing, Mrs Challen’s son David wrote on Twitter: “As a family we are overjoyed at today’s verdict and that it has brought an end to the suffering we have endured together for the past nine years. Our story has become the landmark case society needs to recognise the true severity of coercive control.”
Speaking outside court with her two sons, Mrs Challen said she was “happy” and thanked her legal team. The family is due to hold a press conference later.
