COURAGEOUS schoolgirl Joanne Geldart is pleading for a meeting with Tony Blair to discuss the plight of bully victims.

The County Durham pupil, who has suffered at the hands of school bullies, said she wants to speak up for the schoolchildren who are forced to suffer physical and emotional torment in silence.

Joanne, 14, whose plight was revealed in The Northern Echo on Monday and has since sparked nationwide media interest, said she was appealing to Mr Blair as Prime Minister and as her constituency MP.

The Ferryhill teenager has suffered from name-calling, punching and kicking since her first day at primary school.

She said she is speaking up for the silenced majority of bully victims who are forced to suffer in silence.

As well as hoping to press the cause with Mr Blair, the teenager is also calling for a government-appointed children's commissioner to stand up for the rights of innocent victims like herself.

"I want to meet Tony Blair face-to-face and tell him of my torment as well as speak up for every bullied child in Britain who is too scared to talk," said the teenager.

She said she wanted to meet Mr Blair with her mother, Ann, a campaigner for children's charity NSPCC, to tell him how important this issue is for all the bullied children in the country.

"There are other children I have seen being bullied in my school, and it needs to stop because it wrecks their lives and their education."

She said the Prime Minister had made education a key issue of his premiership and she wanted to see him deliver on his promises.

She said: "He has won the election and he says education is important and this is a major issue for a lot of children.

"I want to act as a champion for all those children being bullied, and I want to speak for them because often they are too scared to speak up for themselves."

A Downing Street spokesman said that while a request to meet the Prime Minister should be made through his constituency office, he was "always happy to hear from constituents".