Queen 'horrified' by domestic abuse calls

Queen Camilla said she was horrified by the number of people calling a police control room for help related to domestic abuse.

During a visit to Avon and Somerset Police's headquarters in Portishead near Bristol earlier, the Queen was told the force receives 34,000 domestic abuse calls per year, the equivalent of 90 per day.

The Queen also met the force's domestic abuse survivors' group, set up by Supt Sharon Baker, who has previously described being abused by a former boyfriend.

Her visit comes amid the scandal surrounding the King's brother Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and the continuing revelations emerging from documents relating to his relationship with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein.

The Queen described the amount of domestic abuse calls received by the force as "horrifying" and added "it's a lot – far too many", but praised the team for its work.

The decision to strip the former Duke of York of his honours and titles last year was reported to have been in part influenced by the Queen's concerns.

Thames Valley Police said on Wednesday it has held discussions with specialist prosecutors from the Crown Prosecution Service about allegations that Andrew shared confidential reports from his role as the UK's trade envoy with sex offender Epstein and "is making progress as quickly as possible".

According to The Telegraph, the Queen was appalled by Andrew's association with Epstein, believing the controversy was negatively impacting her work with sexual abuse victims.

The former prince has always denied the claims.

While visiting the emergency call room, the Queen listened to the start of a pre-recorded conversation between a woman who rang in to report she had spotted an ex-partner on her property, and the emergency call handler.

The Queen was talked through the process by call handler Jasmine Cox, who played her the start of the message, which is also used for training purposes.

"Sometimes people must be very frightened so it must be difficult getting information out of them," said the Queen.

She added: "It's fascinating to see it and horrifying how many calls come in."

She heard how the handlers work to track callers if it is not safe for them to talk and how they can press 55 while on the line to alert the call handler to this.

During her visit, the Queen met the force's domestic abuse survivor's group which was set up by Baker.

Baker set up a network to support colleagues also experiencing abuse after a video about her own abuse resulted in 130 co-workers saying they had live through something similar.

She appeared in the ITV documentary Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors, which followed Camilla over the course of a year to look at her work in this field.

Baker described the Queen's visit was a "real privilege" and said she is "really proud" of the support they have delivered for domestic abuse victims and survivors.

"I know that other survivors who haven't come forward yet will come forward because of her visit."

She previously told the BBC: "Coercive and controlling behaviour is full of manipulation and it's pretty unseen.

"It isolates you from your friends and family and you don't see it to begin with and it's only looking back now I realise what I went through."

While at the police headquarters, The Queen heard about initiatives set up by the force to support survivors, including Project Bright Light which aims to overhaul the way it deals with domestic abuse by opening its doors to a team of academics to conduct an analysis of its processes.

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