"The heartbreaking yet vitally important story of the overturning of a murder conviction, where the accused was a victim of years of abuse and coercive control."
This is such a necessary and significant story, the impact and consequences of coercive control are devastating to the victims, their family and friends. In The Unthinkable, David Challen tells the story of his family life, the years of abuse, how his mother Sally killed his father, was jailed for his murder, and how David, his brother James and others then campaigned for her release. David tells his tale with compassion, frankness, and also a sense of fairness. His openness is important, he speaks from his point of view, details his feelings and how he was affected. We see his childhood, we feel the weight of the years of abuse, we begin to form a picture of the damage, harm, and suffering. I not only felt the pain of his mother, I also ached with sorrow for David and his brother. It was heartbreaking to see how the story was handled in the press, how difficult it was for the team to show the effects of the continuous manipulation. David Challen has become a voice for the victims of coercive control, and he continues to champion the cause. Painful yes, yet The Unthinkable is a compelling and absorbing story that deserves to be heard.
"When [my mother] struck, it was with the cumulative rage of 30 years of hurt."
David Challen grew up in the perfect home with the model family. David Challen also grew up inside a house which concealed his father's manipulation and control.
On a Saturday in 2010, his mother struck twenty blows to the back of her husband's head with a hammer after 35 years of abuse. She then turned off the stove she had been cooking his lunch on and washed the dirty dishes and left the house. In those few minutes, David's life was changed forever.
Over the next decade, he led the fight to overturn her conviction; and in doing so he not only freed his mother and transformed the legal system but also became a voice for the countless victims of coercive control across the country.
David Challen is a domestic abuse campaigner. He successfully campaigned to free his mother in a landmark appeal recognising the lifetime of coercive control she suffered. David continues to speak out against violence against women and is a Prison Advice and Care Trust Ambassador (PACT).
