A BARNSLEY police officer with a passion for racing pigeons has raised more than £4,000 for victims of child sexual exploitation and their families.
PC Chris Gibson has raised the money for Barnardo’s, after someone close to him was affected by child sexual exploitation (CSE).
Racing pigeons in his spare time, PC Gibson contacted some famous names in the sport for donations and organised a fun-filled evening to raise money for the charity, which helped his friend and their daughter.
PC Gibson organised an internet auction of top quality racing pigeons, and asked several famous names in the sport to donate the promise of 2018 youngsters from their best breeding pigeons for the highest bidders to race next year.
This raised more than £3,000, and a further £1,500 was raised after auctioning off another four birds. A total of £4,181 was presented to Barnardo’s.
PC Gibson said: “CSE can have a devastating impact on not only the victim, but on their loved ones too, as together as a family they try to rebuild their lives.
“Earlier this year, someone I knew was a victim of CSE. It was a horrifying, emotional and extremely upsetting event for the girl and this also had a huge knock-on effect for the whole family.
“In total, we’ve raised £4,861 which I’m hopeful will rise to £5,000 as donations are still coming in.
“I’m thrilled to have been able to present this to Barnardo’s, which has offered tremendous support to the girl and her family. Trying to rebuild and regain confidence for victims of CSE can be extremely difficult, and Barnardo’s help people to do just that.”
PC Gibson thanked everyone involved.
