Ten years on from the Serious Crime Act 2015, which made coercive and controlling behaviour a criminal offence, domestic abuse campaigner David Challen and solicitor Harriet Wistrich speak to broadcaster Samira Ahmed about misogyny, male violence and how to bring about justice.
Challen, author of The Unthinkable, successfully campaigned to overturn his mother Sally Challen’s murder conviction in a landmark appeal recognising the lifetime of coercive control she suffered. An advisor to the Domestic Abuse Commissioner for England and Wales, he is a leading campaigner on coercive control and has written about his own fight for justice and society’s failure to recognise its impact.
Wistrich acted for Sally Challen in the appeal that overturned her conviction for the murder of her coercively controlling husband. She has written about that battle for justice and several others, including acting in the landmark Supreme Court case that held the Metropolitan Police accountable for their failures in the investigation of taxi driver and serial rapist John Worboys. She is founder director of the Centre for Women’s Justice, a founder member of campaign group Justice for Women, and author of Sister in Law.