A COUNCILLOR says he will ‘never get justice’ after revealing he was sexually abused as a child.

Councillor Ben Shirley fought back tears as he laid bare his battle with mental health - telling colleagues he had even contemplated taking his own life following a series of incidents.

In an emotional speech backing a motion to appoint a mental health champion at Barrow council, he said he was abused between the ages of five and 11.

He said his abuser had been charged but attempted to take his own life and is now deemed unfit to stand trial.

“It brought such shame on me and I could not tell my parents,” he said. “It was difficult to open up but in 2017 I finally reported the abuse to Cumbria Constabulary and to my close family.

“The Crown Prosecution Service found the evidence compelling and started to press charges.”

But Cllr Shirley added: “Shortly after charges were pressed my abuser attempted suicide and is now deemed unfit to stand trial, meaning I will never get justice. The abuse has haunted me in my adult life.”.

Cllr Shirley said the abuse affected his mental health during his own efforts to stand for election for the ward of Dalton North in 2019.

“The following day I was subject to vile abuse on social media and had leaflets put around the village against me to get people to vote against me,” he said.

“This followed through to my work at the General Election when my wife and I experienced a very personal tragedy.

“But during that time a local opposition party page published yet more smears about me while we were dealing with this very personal tragedy.

“It was made up of rubbish that I found deeply offensive.”

He said he began to wonder whether it was ‘worth carrying on’.

He told councillors: “Combined with the personal tragedy that my wife and I were going through; I got my affairs in order and wrote a farewell note. Social media can be extremely nasty and destructive. They had no idea of the emotional and mental demands I was dealing with.”

With respect to the current pandemic Cllr Shirley said: “Many people are going to be damaged. We need to work together to show compassion. People need to understand the consequence of the words we use. This affects every one’s mental health and wellbeing.”

He told his story to a meeting of Barrow Council as part of a motion to appoint a member champion for Health and wellbeing.

Councillor Ian Mooney, who is the nominated spokesman for health and well-being and a registered NHS nurse, said mental health budgets had been slashed by half a million pounds.

“This leaves Cumbria’s spending per head;going down from £37 to £36 per head, with the national average of £63 per head and London £241 per head,” said.

Responding to Cllr Shirley’s experiences, Councillor Tony Callister said: “I think we should put our political colours to one side. I applaud Ben this evening for such honesty. If his story does not strike each one of us, then you have got to give yourself a bit of a shake. This is one hell of a statement tonight by a councillor. I have also got to applaud Councillor Ian Mooney for bringing the motion to the table.”

The Mail launched the Time to Talk campaign to encourage people to share their experiences of mental health struggles.

If you need to talk reach out to the Samaritans on 116123.