Criminal Law Term II
Seminar 9
Virtual Scrapbook Seminar Brief
Step 1. Complete Section 1 and Section 2 on Sally Challen case following
the news article link below.
In this way you will practice completing an entry for a virtual scrapbook.
Sally Challen case Huffington Post
Step 2. Upload your Section 1 -Commentary on the padlet anonymously
by Monday (23 March 2020). Your seminar tutor will send you the link for
your firm’s padlet.
Step 3. Referring to the Virtual Scrapbook Law School Assessment
Criteria (on ele) anonymously assess and grade one of the commentaries
uploaded on the padlet using the comment and grade sections by
Wednesday (25 March 2020).
Step 4. Check the feedback and grade your commentary received.
Step 5. An overall feedback document will be uploaded on ele on Friday
(27 March 2020).
Section 1 : Cases
Sally Challen was married to her husband for 21 years. She attacked
him at their home with a hammer. Her sentence was 22 years and
on appeal was reduced to 18 under the Offences against the person
act 1861 – Homicide. Her appeal was granted in March 2018. Court
of Appeal quashed her conviction in Feb 2019. Grounds of
diminished responsibility – lesser manslaughter plea. She was under
the threat of coercion and under psychological control and abuse.
Serious Crime Act. The act made “controlling or coercive behaviour”
in intimate or familial relationships an offence – closing a long-
, criticised gap in the law. The law defines coercive control as a
“continuing act, or pattern of acts, of assault, threats, humiliation
and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or
frighten their victim”. Controlling behaviour, which is also an offence
under the law, refers to a range of acts designed to make a person
subordinate or dependent. In the home office document Article 76 of
Serious Crimes Act states that the coercive behaviour must be
“continuous” and in Sally’s case it was over the course of 21 years
of marriage.
Section 2 : Appendix
Article 1 [How Sally Challen Appealed Her Conviction For Husband’s
Murder After Years Of Coercive Control] [09/12/2019 HuffPost]
Article as published please remove photographs, advertisements and links
(if possible) . You may abridge if necessary to relevant section
In June, mother-of-two Sally Challen walked free from prison following an
almost decade-long legal battle that began when she bludgeoned
her coercive and controlling husband to death.
The 65-year-old was jailed for life in 2011 for killing Richard Challen, 61,
with a hammer as he ate breakfast at their kitchen table.
With the backing of her two sons, Sally’s appeal to manslaughter by
diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown and she was
sentenced to nine years and four months, walking free from the Old Bailey
due to time served. She was comforted by her son David as she told
reporters she still loved her husband.
The judge accepted the killing came after “years of controlling, isolating
and humiliating conduct”, with the added provocation of her husband’s
“serial multiple infidelity.”
On Monday, BBC Two will air The Case of Sally Challen, revealing the
inside story of her appeal against her murder conviction and featuring
interviews with Sally, her friends and family and both legal teams.
What is coercive control?
Coercive control became illegal in England and Wales in December 2015
with the introduction of the Serious Crime Act. The act made “controlling
or coercive behaviour” in intimate or familial relationships an offence –
closing a long-criticised gap in the law.
Seminar 9
Virtual Scrapbook Seminar Brief
Step 1. Complete Section 1 and Section 2 on Sally Challen case following
the news article link below.
In this way you will practice completing an entry for a virtual scrapbook.
Sally Challen case Huffington Post
Step 2. Upload your Section 1 -Commentary on the padlet anonymously
by Monday (23 March 2020). Your seminar tutor will send you the link for
your firm’s padlet.
Step 3. Referring to the Virtual Scrapbook Law School Assessment
Criteria (on ele) anonymously assess and grade one of the commentaries
uploaded on the padlet using the comment and grade sections by
Wednesday (25 March 2020).
Step 4. Check the feedback and grade your commentary received.
Step 5. An overall feedback document will be uploaded on ele on Friday
(27 March 2020).
Section 1 : Cases
Sally Challen was married to her husband for 21 years. She attacked
him at their home with a hammer. Her sentence was 22 years and
on appeal was reduced to 18 under the Offences against the person
act 1861 – Homicide. Her appeal was granted in March 2018. Court
of Appeal quashed her conviction in Feb 2019. Grounds of
diminished responsibility – lesser manslaughter plea. She was under
the threat of coercion and under psychological control and abuse.
Serious Crime Act. The act made “controlling or coercive behaviour”
in intimate or familial relationships an offence – closing a long-
, criticised gap in the law. The law defines coercive control as a
“continuing act, or pattern of acts, of assault, threats, humiliation
and intimidation or other abuse that is used to harm, punish, or
frighten their victim”. Controlling behaviour, which is also an offence
under the law, refers to a range of acts designed to make a person
subordinate or dependent. In the home office document Article 76 of
Serious Crimes Act states that the coercive behaviour must be
“continuous” and in Sally’s case it was over the course of 21 years
of marriage.
Section 2 : Appendix
Article 1 [How Sally Challen Appealed Her Conviction For Husband’s
Murder After Years Of Coercive Control] [09/12/2019 HuffPost]
Article as published please remove photographs, advertisements and links
(if possible) . You may abridge if necessary to relevant section
In June, mother-of-two Sally Challen walked free from prison following an
almost decade-long legal battle that began when she bludgeoned
her coercive and controlling husband to death.
The 65-year-old was jailed for life in 2011 for killing Richard Challen, 61,
with a hammer as he ate breakfast at their kitchen table.
With the backing of her two sons, Sally’s appeal to manslaughter by
diminished responsibility was accepted by the Crown and she was
sentenced to nine years and four months, walking free from the Old Bailey
due to time served. She was comforted by her son David as she told
reporters she still loved her husband.
The judge accepted the killing came after “years of controlling, isolating
and humiliating conduct”, with the added provocation of her husband’s
“serial multiple infidelity.”
On Monday, BBC Two will air The Case of Sally Challen, revealing the
inside story of her appeal against her murder conviction and featuring
interviews with Sally, her friends and family and both legal teams.
What is coercive control?
Coercive control became illegal in England and Wales in December 2015
with the introduction of the Serious Crime Act. The act made “controlling
or coercive behaviour” in intimate or familial relationships an offence –
closing a long-criticised gap in the law.
