Virginia Giuffre's interactions with Australian police to be reviewed

The interactions Jeffery Epstein accuser Virginia Giuffre had with Australian police before her death will be reviewed, Western Australia's police commissioner has confirmed.

Ms Giuffre died by suicide in April last year at her semi-rural property north of Perth.

She had long alleged she was trafficked for sex to former prince Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and other prominent figures by Epstein when she was a teenager.

While living in Australia, Ms Giuffre was involved in a dispute with her former partner which at one point saw her charged with breaching a restraining order.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch has confirmed his officers' handling of Ms Giuffre's case would be reviewed, in response to a letter he received from her family.

"We respond to over 100,000 family violence incidents every year," he told a WA parliament hearing on Wednesday morning.

"I'd love to give assurance on every single one, but I can't — but that one will be subject to a review."

He said the state's coroner and ombudsman could also launch their own investigations.

Speaking outside parliament, Commissioner Blanch said "all [officer] interactions will be reviewed" to see whether proper procedure was followed.

"We invest a lot in training of our police officers, we have body-worn video, so our reviews can be quite thorough."

He said the internal review — which commenced "shortly after" he received correspondence from the family — was confined to police interactions with Ms Giuffre.

The commissioner said the family violence investigation team would first "review the circumstances" of all police attendance during her time living in WA.

Family speaks out

It comes as Ms Giuffre's brother and sister-in-law, Sky and Amanda Roberts, renewed calls for a coronial inquiry into the circumstances leading to her death.

The Roberts family had written to the state coroner requesting the inquiry.

"That's what Virginia would want, a thorough investigation into the systematic failures in Australia … in the United States, across the UK," Mr Roberts told 102.5 ABC Radio Perth.

Loading...

"The systematic failures that have happened to sexual abuse victims time and time again, and domestic violence victims time and time again."

More than a dozen researchers and practitioners in the domestic violence space, from universities across the country, have also written to the coroner, in support of the family's plea.

Mr Roberts said his sister's case could help other victims and potential victims.

"The only thing that's unusual about [Virginia's case] is the fact that there's documentation leading up to her death that we can utilise, so that thousands and thousands of other women and children can be saved," he said.

Ms Roberts said the family had also penned a letter to WA Police requesting a review of how officers handled their investigation in the lead-up to Ms Giuffre's death.

"There's a lot of things that happened before Virginia ultimately made that decision, and there should be plenty of documentation," Ms Roberts said.

She said Ms Giuffre's family was still coming to terms with her death.

"Her brother's lost a sibling, a piece of themselves that you never recover from."

"You can never look at life the same, losing someone that close to you.

"Her legacy, and her impact, and what her voice means to the world — taking on that mantle, it's been a very difficult year."