Police chief reveals how domestic abuse left her ‘totally isolated’ in new film

A senior Avon and Somerset Police officer has shared her experience of domestic abuse in an upcoming ITV documentary led by the Queen.
Chief Inspector Sharon Baker, who has personally experienced domestic violence, has established a support network for individuals within the force facing similar challenges after receiving responses from more than 130 colleagues who shared their experiences of abuse.
The ITV documentary, titled Her Majesty The Queen: Behind Closed Doors, captures a year of the Queen’s private engagements focused on domestic abuse, including her meetings with survivors and visits to refuge centres.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain about the upcoming documentary, Sharon said: “There’s not a lot of awareness around what coercive control looks like.
“I was punished for being home late from work, I was told I was ugly, and slowly your friends are told they are no good for you, and then your family. Then one day you look around and you realise that you are all alone and they have isolated you.
“I kept silent for a long time and I wanted to speak out because silence is power for the abusers. I was really worried about speaking out because no one looked like me or sounded like me.”
The 90-minute programme also includes perspectives from survivors, relatives who have lost loved ones, and advocates like former Prime Minister Theresa May, Safeguarding Minister Jess Phillips and Cherie Blair.
One victim told the programme how difficult it is to leave an abusive relationship.
She said: “There are invisible chains that are created, especially when you have children. You’re not just thinking about yourself, you’re thinking about people, little human beings, that you’re responsible for.”
Another described the moment her estranged husband tried to kill her.
She said: “I can see him reaching into a bag and I can see him pulling this sawn off shotgun out of the bag. He hit me with the butt of the gun…he pointed the gun at my chest, told me he loved me and pulled the trigger.”
Statistics highlighted in the documentary underscore the prevalence of domestic abuse, with one in five adults affected and three women dying by suicide each week due to abuse.
A domestic abuse-related call is made to emergency services every 30 seconds, yet only 24% are estimated to be formally reported.
The Queen said: “One of the most difficult things about domestic abuse, to understand, it’s not the bruises and the black eyes, which, unfortunately you see, through violence, this is something that creeps up very slowly and, far too often, it ends up with women being killed.
“You meet somebody, you think they’re wonderful and attractive and love you…and then bit by bit, they start to undermine you. They take away your friends, they take away your family…and then when you start questioning it…these people become very violent.”
The documentary will premiere on 11 November on ITV1, ITVX, STV, and STV Player.