A CELEBRATION AND A CALL FOR ACTION
Public meeting by zoom – 15th March, 5.30pm-7pm
Sally Challen, Emma-Jayne Magson, Fri Martin: Three cases, and three years on, we join to celebrate the remarkable victories and to bemoan the continued injustice that so many victims of male violence face. We look at what has changed in the criminal justice response to such cases, what still needs to change and how you can help.
In November 2018, Centre for Women’s Justice in conjunction with the campaign group Justice for Women launched the campaigns in support of the criminal appeals of Sally Challen, Farieissia (Fri) Martin and Emma-Jayne Magson. All three women were convicted of the murder of their abusive partners.
In February 2019, Sally Challen’s appeal was heard and her conviction was quashed in a landmark judgment, which attracted huge media attention. She is now free after over nine years imprisonment. In December 2019, Emma Jayne Magson’s appeal was heard and her conviction quashed, with a retrial ordered. However, history repeated itself at a bitterly disappointing, fiercely fought, retrial where a jury, by a majority of 10–2, reconvicted her of murder in March 2021. But, due to errors in the judge’s summing up, Emma has again been granted permission to appeal her murder conviction. Fri Martin also successfully appealed her murder conviction in December 2020, and a retrial was ordered to take place at Liverpool Crown Court. However, on the eve of the trial in May 2021 new evidence emerged to support her account that she had been strangled before grabbing a knife and inflicted a fatal wound. The crown then agreed to accept a manslaughter plea but Fri was sentenced to ten years which meant she remain separated from her small children. Fri was finally released in December last year. In her first public appearance since release, we celebrate Fri’s freedom and look at how far we have come in three years.
Join us for a panel discussion on why the criminal justice system is unjustly criminalising and failing survivors of abuse.
Speakers include:
Harriet Wistrich
Lawyer and director of Centre for Women's Justice and co-founder of Justice for Women. Harriet has acted for a number of women in successful appeals against their murder convictions including Sally Challen and Farieissia Martin.
Farieissia Martin
Farieissia (Fri), convicted in 2015, at the age of 22, of the murder of Kyle Farrell, her violent partner. Following a successful appeal in 2020, her conviction was quashed, and a retrial ordered. Subsequently, new evidence was obtained, and a plea of manslaughter accepted.
David Challen
David is a domestic abuse campaigner. He worked with Justice for Women to highlight the coercive control his mother Sally Challen was subjected to that drove her to kill his father, This led to a landmark Court of Appeal judgment in February 2019.which overturned the murder conviction recognising the impact of the lifetime of coercive control she suffered.
Louise Bullivant
Louise is a criminal defence lawyer and member of Justice for Women. She represented Emma-Jayne Magson in the Court of Appeal and her subsequent retrial. She has also represented many young women who have offended due to abuse. Louise will discuss Emma’s case and why she is again appealing.
The panel will be chaired by Naima Sakande, deputy director and investigator at APPEAL
This event is with donation (minimum donation is £1). All donations received will go to the Centre for Women's Justice campaign to raise funds to help other women appeal their conviction.
Many women have reached out for advice and representation to appeal unjust convictions. We are seeking to secure funding to help pay for work reviewing cases, paying for experts and preparing appeals where there are grounds. Any donations given to us before 15th March will be matched by The Big Give women and girls match fund. So your donation will have double the impact!