Coercive control is now the “most common” form of abuse for which people seek help from the authorities, an expert on domestic violence has said.
Speaking at the landmark Sally Challen murder appeal, retired forensic social worker Professor Evan Stark said this particular form of abuse, in which an abuser deploys a range of tactics over an extended period of time, is widespread – even though it only became legally recognised in 2015.
Challen bludgeoned her husband to death with a hammer in 2010 after years of being controlled and humiliated by her husband Richard. The mother-of-two admitted killing the former car dealer at her 2011 trial at Guildford Crown Court, but denied murder, claiming diminished responsibility.
The prosecution argued the murder was the action of a jealous woman who suspected infidelity, and Challen was jailed for life with a minimum term of 22 years, later reduced on appeal by four years.
Giving evidence before three judges, Professor Stark said: “Coercive control is designed to subjugate and dominate, not merely to hurt.
“It achieves compliance essentially by making victims afraid and by depriving them of rights, resources and liberties, without which they can not effectively defend themselves, escape, refuse demands or resist.”
Professor Stark is one of three expert witnesses addressing the court, with Challen’s lawyers submitting there was “insufficient understanding” of coercive control as a form of domestic abuse in 2011.
Lawyers for Challen, supported by Justice for Women, argue “fresh evidence” on the issue of coercive control, which was not available at the time of her trial, would now help a jury reach a different verdict.
Challen’s appeal is supported by her sons David and James, who have always maintained their mother was the true victim, having suffered years of psychological, financial and emotional abuse at the hands of her husband, who would dictate when she could leave the house.
In one instance there was a brutal rape, which was said to be punishment for a male friend kissing her goodnight on the cheek. In another, David remembers his father trying to convince Sally that she wasn’t sane when she found him cheating (a practice known as “gaslighting”, common in abusive relationships.)
In December, David Challen told HuffPost UK: “We are really not justifying murder. We recognise that she has done a crime, she has killed my father and in weird way we still love him. But nothing will ever be solved in society unless we look at the root cause. Right now this conviction serves absolutely no-one in society and that’s one of the most frustrating things.”
The defence of coercive control only passed into law in 2015 and was not available to Challen at the time of her trial.
According to Women’s Aid, an estimated 1.3 million women experienced domestic abuse in 2018 and the police recorded over half a million domestic abuse-related crimes in the year 2017/18.
Yet the police recorded just 9,053 coercive control offences in 2017/18 and less than 300 offenders were convicted for this crime in England and Wales during 2016 and 2017.