A mum-of-two made an emotional plea for the safe return of her 14-year-old son who vanished in Portugal last year while on holiday with his dad. Rebecca Jones, 35, has begged her ex-partner, Andrew Pearson, 33, to end her "living nightmare" and allow their son Jayden Pearson return home to Doncaster, reports Yorkshire Live.
The mum has not heard from Jayden since last September, before he went on a ten-day trip with his dad to the Algarve. On the day he was due to return, Rebecca sent a taxi to pick up her son from the airport but he was not there.
The mum-of-two feared she would never hear from her son again after her ex-partner blocked her number. The terrified mum flew to Portugal to search for Jayden, but she alleged that Andrew sent her sinister texts before completely cutting her off.
Sspeaking today, Rebecca said: "It would be the best gift ever to see his face again. Just let this living nightmare end. If you see this, Jayden, I wish you a happy birthday. I love you so much. It’s heartbreaking to be in this situation. I don’t know if I’m ever going to see him again. We should be celebrating together.
"He’s got a sack full of birthday cards. He can open them when he’s back home. His little brother Mathew has even bought him a bracelet that says ‘brother’. We are putting up balloons, and we’re going to have a Chinese – his favourite food."
In a message to Andrew, she said: "Put him on a plane and send him home. We will be waiting for him on the other end ready to hold him and not let him go. Think about these boys – they deserve to be together. I just want to be a mum to Jayden."
Andrew had volunteered to take Jayden away for a break to Lagos in Portugal. Rebecca had retained custody of Jayden and his brother, Mathew, 11, since 2019, after she broke up with Andrew, but agreed to the holiday.
The NHS healthcare worker said the pair were due to arrive at East Midlands Airport on September 14 last year at 10pm and she had a taxi waiting for Jayden at the arrival gate. However, Rebecca was left frantic when they failed to show up, and then she realised Andrew had blocked her number on his phone.
She said: "At first, I kept trying to call him, kept trying to text him. I thought something had happened. I thought he might have had an accident. And then he blocked me, and blocked all my family. It was just a holiday. When he didn’t return I was numb, I was worried, I was scared and I was heartbroken."
After they failed to come home to the UK, Rebeccahe reported both missing to UK police on around September 22 last year. The distressed mum created missing person posters and shared them on social media in the hope that someone would recognise Jayden’s face.
Andrew was subsequently sighted at a resort in the Nazaré region of Portugal, 250 miles from Lagos, but Rebecca alleges that she received threatening messages from him. Rebecca flew out to Portugal on January 22 this year, and reported them both as missing to the local authorities six days later.
She said Portuguese police had searched the resort where Andrew was last seen three times, but failed to find any new clues. Rebecca thinks that her ex planned all along to use the trip to take her son away from her and split up their children.
She said: "It was a holiday for him – it was meant to be a ten-day holiday. He organized it. At the time, I didn’t suspect anything. But now I feel like he planned it all along."
Rebecca is increasingly worried about her son’s health and well-being, and remains angry at Andrew for taking him away. She said: "I trusted the man who I had children with and he did this. I don’t believe that Jayden's needs are being met. He is not at school. He’s going into year ten in September. He needs to be sitting his GCSE.
"I feel every day is long and hard. I feel like every day we are waking up to this living nightmare that’s not going to end any time soon. But the UK and Portugal police have been very useful and very supportive."
A spokesperson from South Yorkshire Police said: "We understand how distressing this is for the family and have been in frequent contact with them. We continue to support the investigation and work with the relevant authorities to help with their enquiries."
Attempts were made to contact Andrew Pearson for comment.
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