Queen meets domestic abuse survivor's group

Queen Camilla has visited Avon and Somerset Police headquarters to learn about the force's work tackling sexual abuse and domestic violence.

The Queen was greeted by Supt Sharon Baker, a domestic abuse survivor, and Chief Constable Sarah Crew when she visited the Portishead site, near Bristol, earlier.

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

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

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.

At the police headquarters, the Queen was given a tour of the control room and spoke to a 999 call handler about dealing with domestic abuse calls.

The Queen heard about initiatives set up by the force to support survivors, including Project Blue 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.

The Bluestone model has since been rolled out across all forces nationally.

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

Baker 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."

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