A woman who killed her husband in a hammer attack after “decades of abuse” has won a landmark appeal to have her murder conviction quashed.
Sally Challen, 65, of Claygate, Surrey, admitted killing 61-year-old Richard in August 2010 but denied murder.
She was convicted in June 2011 and ordered to serve a minimum of 22 years, later reduced by four years on appeal. She will now face a retrial.
Her lawyers asked the Appeal Court to reduce her conviction to manslaughter.
The conviction was overturned by three judges who said the evidence of a psychiatrist, that Challen was suffering from two mental disorders at the time of the killing, was not available at the trial and undermined the safety of her conviction.
An application for her to be released on bail was denied.
