'We love and miss you so much:" Doncaster mum's heartbreaking appeal on missing son's 14th birthday

Jayden Pearson, who has not been seen since last August, was meant to return to the UK with dad Andrew Pearson, 33, following a ten-day trip to the Algarve last year.

Desperate mum Rebecca Jones has made a number of pleas for Jayden to come home – and described today – Jayden’s 14th birthday as ‘the hardest day.’

In a heartbreaking social media post, she wrote: “Today is one of the hardest days, you should be here celebrating your 14th birthday with your family and friends

“I miss you so much, there's cards and gifts here for you Jay from everyone who loves and cares about you.

“We will still continue to decorate the home with banners and balloons for you and celebrate with your favourite take away Chinese

“Happy 14th Birthday to my eldest boy Jayden, we love and miss you so much.

“You may not be here celebrating like we always do, we will continue to celebrate your special day a day that should never feel so hard and sad, you should be here waking up so early on purpose to open all your cards and gifts

“You’re never forgotten, you are loved so much.”

Earlier this year, Rebecca admitted fearing she would never see Jayden again after his dad failed to show up with the teenager on his late-night return flight to Britain before he blocked the mother-of-two and her family from calling him.

She has reported her son missing to police in the UK and Portugal and has travelled overseas to search for him.

Rebecca, an NHS healthcare assistant, said: 'He went on holiday, and I had no reason to think he would not come home. I felt I could trust the man who had my children.

'Every day I think, "Will I ever see my eldest boy again?" I just want him home where he belongs.

'He has taken my boy.”

Rebecca said Andrew jetted off with Jayden for the ten-day break to the city of Lagos, on Portugal's southern tip, in August last year.

She said she had retained custody of Jayden and his brother, Mathew, 11, since 2019 after her relationship broke down with Andrew.

However, she'd agreed that he could take their eldest son on the sunshine trip before he started a new school year.

Rebecca said the pair were booked on a 6.45pm flight and were due to arrive at East Midlands Airport on September 14 last year at about 10pm.

She even had a taxi waiting for them, but she was left frantic when the pair failed to show up before the penny dropped and 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.'

Rebecca said she had kept trying to reach Andrew and when that failed, she reported him and her son as missing to UK police on around September 22 last year.

The distressed mum went on to create posters and shared them on social media in the hope that someone would see Jayden's face and identify his whereabouts.

But after Andrew was sighted and photographed at a farm resort in the Nazaré region of Portugal, 250 miles from Lagos, she says she received threatening messages from him about her heartfelt pleas.

And he even suggested that he was now planning to take Jayden to Bulgaria.

They read: 'Well done. Thanks* You've successfully f***ed us both. Clap clap. Hopefully no f***ing bears eat us!

'If we successfully make it to Bulgaria I will make contact then. Good night sleep well!'

Rebecca flew out to Portugal on January 22 this year, in the hope of finding Jayden before reporting them both as missing to local authorities six days later.

She said local police had searched the farm resort where Andrew was spotted three times, but none of these had tuned up any new clues.

She said: 'It was a holiday for him - it was meant to be a ten-day holiday. He organised it. At the time, I didn't suspect anything. But now I feel like he planned it all along.

'He has not got any family with him, or anyone out there. And if anything happened to him, what happens to Jayden?'

A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: 'We can confirm we have received a report and we are treating Andrew and Jayden as missing persons.'