Calls for people to unite against child abuse with social media campaign

Thousands of people are backing a campaign set up by a man who was abused by former Manchester City coach Barry Bennell.

David Lean was targeted by the disgraced coach when he was 11. He first spoke out about his ordeal in 2015.

Now, he has set up Purple Summer, a social media campaign calling for an end to the stigma around talking about child sex abuse, and encouraging victims to speak up and ask for help.

Already, thousands of people have thrown their support behind the initiative, wearing purple clothes and sharing purple pictures on Twitter and Facebook.

The day of action - Friday 15th June - was chosen by Lean in the run up to the summer holidays.

He said:

"I know it's a cliche, that if we save just one person it's just one person, but that person at this moment in time could be a neighbour of a child who has been abused and that person could think that they're going to make contact with the police or make contact with the NSPCC.

"Something could spark off the back of this and if it does help just one person then it has been a success.

"Doing things like this brings people forward. Last year we had a disclosure on social media, so there's people coming out of that hell and communicating. It can really make a difference, it brings children forward, teenagers forward, parents forward.

"We're really hopeful that just by doing this day it will start conversations.

"We just want to do something that's inclusive, it doesn't matter what age you are, what sex you are, what religion you are. It's just something to get involved with and if we can come together on this one day and make a difference, that's what I want to achieve."

You can get involved in Purple Summer by using the hashtag #purplesummer on social media.