Girl, 13, who had head smashed against pavement while cruel ‘friends’ filmed backs our Block The Bullying campaign
Amelie Johnston was attacked by a vicious bully after being lured to an alleyway
AMELIE Johnston, 13, was attacked by a vicious bully after being lured to an alleyway by so-called "friends".
Two of the schoolgirl's classmates encouraged her to walk home with them after school - but actually led her to the bully who "smashed her head against the pavement" while they filmed the brutal attack.
Amelie was initially confronted by the bully in an alleyway before the attack spilled onto a busy road - with teens filming the assault on their phones as passersby walked past without stopping to help.
The 13-year-old said: "People were walking past with kids and the bully just kept shouting, saying she wanted to have it out with me.
"The girl grabbed me and pushed me into the middle of a busy road. She grabbed my hair and tried to slam my head on the kerb.
"She punched me in the back, in the neck, in the face. Eventually another girl stepped in to help me up. My friends didn't even ask if I was OK."
A video of the sickening attack was immediately posted to Snapchat, where it was watched by scores of youngsters.
Amelie said: “The fact people were filming it made the situation so much worse because more people could see it and could comment on what happened. Some of the comments were really hurtful.
“When I went back into school after it happened it was really hard that everyone had seen it and were talking about it. People still talk about it now.”
Mum Claire Johnston, said: “It made her feel really exposed because she had no control over who saw it."
Amelie and Claire are speaking out as part of out Block The Bullying campaign, in conjunction with the NSPCC. The brave teen has appeared on Sky News this morning with her mum, to talk about her ordeal.
Block The Bullying aims to educate young people about why filming and sharing attacks on social media can be just as damaging to a child as the actual physical assault.
We will also tell teens what to do if they see a bullying video on social media, how parents should react if their child is a victim and we will ask readers to .
Finally we are calling on social media channels to take down any videos showing the bullying of children as soon as they become aware of them.
The aims of the campaign are simple:
Firstly: We call on all social media platforms to remove videos of children being physically bullied by other young people as soon as they comes to their attention.
Secondly: We are asking for Sun readers - both children and adults - to pledge their support to report the videos if they see them.
Thirdly: We aim to educate children as to why they should never film and share incidents of bullying and the damage it can cause to the victims and to themselves.
Fourthly: We want to offer parents an easy step by step guide to help them cope if their children have been victims of cyber bullying.
Reliving her terrifying attack Amelie described how she asked one of the "friends" she had walked with if she could go into her nearby home and call her mum from their phone.
She said: "She just said no, so I had to walk around the block until I thought they'd all gone.
"I was too scared to walk home as I knew I would have to pass them.
"I was just walking around in the middle of nowhere for half-an-hour, crying on my own."
Mum Claire, who was in London at the time of the attack in King's Lynn, managed to get hold of her sister who found Amelie and took her home.
Claire said: "Amelie complained about the girl at school before the attack. She's had a lot of issues at school, she lost about four dress sizes in a year.
"I kept saying to the school there must be something wrong, and I think with what's happened and some of the other kids coming forward to say this girl has bullied them too I think it was an ongoing issue."
Amelie says two of the students who filmed the attack were excluded for a week - but were allowed to go on a fun school trip just days after the assault.
She also claims the older girl who carried out the attack was not kicked out of the school - meaning Amelie must see her on an almost daily basis.
The 13-year-old suffered a black eye, fat lip and serious bruises to her neck and back during the assault.
She also says the girl pulled out large chunks of her hair by grabbing it so hard.
While the attack was not carried out on school premises - Claire says all the girls were wearing school uniform and insists it is a school matter.
She added: "I want to make it clear the students are representatives of the school, and teachers have to take action, because these attacks are happening all the time."
Claire is calling on schools, parents and police to educate anyone who films or carries out these attacks of the consequences of their actions.
She said: "I decided to upload the video to Facebook to raise awareness after it had already gone around on Facebook - but that was a really tough decision to make.
"If I felt I had more support from the school, or if the police had more of an understanding and stance on the law around these attacks I wouldn't have felt the need to."
Claire is firmly behind our campaign which asks Sun readers to pledge their support to report videos and not stay silent by signing up.
The Sun Online will not publish any more videos of children being bullied, unless we have express permission from the family or police.
If you or anyone you know have experienced this kind of bullying email us at [email protected] or call 0207 782 4368