Portsmouth campaigner 'sick' of child abuse organises march at Guildhall Square

Mum-of-one Amy Johnston, 28, is rallying people to join her and co-organiser Lacey Hider to show their opposition to all forms of child abuse including human trafficking in a protest at Guildhall Square.

The Buckland resident, who knows people who have been victim to abuse, wants to be ‘the voice’ for children after being left ‘sick’ at stories of exploitation – with her believing it will ‘just carry on’ unless more is done.

It is hoped there will be more than 250 people attending the march after Amy and Lacey set-up a Facebook group called Portsmouth#saveourchildren.

Amy said: ‘It is a topic close to our hearts. We decided to do something because no one else seems to be much and someone needs to speak up.

‘Abuse of all kinds is happening everywhere and if we don’t do anything about it then things will just carry on as normal.

‘There are all types of abusers whether they are family friends, relatives or whatever. It needs to be recognised.

‘It makes me sick to my stomach what is happening - I am not able to sleep at night sometimes because of it.’

Amy wants a peaceful protest with banners depicting the message: ‘Save our children.’

She added: ‘We don’t want any violence or trouble. This is a silent protest to get authorities to take notice.

‘We want to know why (authorities) don’t seem to be doing much to stop the abuse. Why are people unaware about the problems?

‘I want children to know there is help out there for them. We have to stick together.

‘I heard there are 18 million children in the UK who are being abused who need help. I will march on the 10th of every month until something is done.

‘We’ve had a lot of interest with 150 people saying they are going and 69 others who are interested – so there has been a lot of interest so far and we’ve only been going three days.

‘We hope everyone will be there to help out on the day.’

Hampshire police force has recorded a 53 per cent increase in child sexual offences in five years, new figures have revealed.

The authority recorded 2,661 offences against children in 2019/20 - an average of 51 a week - compared to 1,734 in 2014/15.

Of those in 2019/20, 2,048 were females, 599 males and unknown in 14 cases.

Nationally child sexual offences jumped by 57 per cent in five years, according to data obtained by the NSPCC, and the children’s charity is calling for urgent action to tackle the issue.

NSPCC chief executive Peter Wanless said: ‘The crisis of child sexual abuse is not going away and behind these figures are thousands of children and young people who have reported crimes that can have a devastating impact on their lives.’

The march will take place at 1pm on October 10.

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