A MUM is overwhelmed with the support from the community after they helped her find her missing autistic son.

Maxine Brown, from Staveley near Kendal, took her 28-year-old son Kieran Brown to Barrow town for the day on Friday.

Kieran, who suffers with learning difficulties and has autism, enjoys looking around the charity shops and in Barrow market.

The mother and son accidentally lost each other as they came out of the market together.

Maxine said she was so worried but was reassured she would find her son thanks to the generosity from the public.

She said: “I have never been so touched in all my life.

“I was shopping in the market and the main street and I was very flustered and everyone wanted to help me find my son.

“A lovely lady, her husband and their friend came up to me and asked if I was alright and I said: ‘No, I’ve lost my son’ and they said they would help.

“She told me how her son has autism like Kieran and was more than happy to help.

"She looked all round the town and her husband was running all around Barrow trying to find him.”

Maxine said even workmen who were on their break getting a bite to eat offered to help look.

She said: “There was about 10 people who came up to me and asked. Even some older people were willing to give up their time and look.

“I am just so grateful.”

Thirty minutes later, Kieran was found by the woman and her husband in the town centre.

Maxine said: “The panic on his face, god love him, he was so relieved.

“He came running right up the road and when he saw me he was so delighted. He must have been so frightened.

“I don’t know what I would have done if it wasn’t for the lady and her husband and their friend finding him, I was in bits.

“I just want to thank everyone who offered to help, it really means a lot.”