Brother begs teen sibling to come home after sneaking out
THE brother of a teenager who has been missing for almost three days has begged him to come back.
Mason Gardner, 14, has not been seen since he sneaked out of his family home on Friday after being grounded.
His frantic family have spent all weekend looking for him and he has been reported missing to police.
And now, through the Chronicle, they are pleading with him to come home.
In a direct message to his missing sibling, Mason’s brother, Kaine, said: “Just come home. The pain this is causing is not worth any disagreement. I’m absolutely heartbroken.”
Mason, who is a pupil at
Newcastle’s Kenton school lives with Kaine, 24, and their grandmother Denise Watson, in Fawdon, near Gosforth.
Kaine said he had confiscated his younger brother’s phone after he was grounded and put it in his bedroom before going out with friends on Friday evening, but when he returned both Mason and the phone were gone.
The teenager’s worried family contacted police on Friday night, and have since been searching the streets of Newcastle themselves for Mason.
“This is very out of character, he’s never done anything like this before,” said Kaine.
“We are all terrified. I have basically just been driving round looking for him and we have got people looking all over for him.
“I can’t do anything other than worry about him.
Kaine says police have told him Mason has been in touch and told officers he was sleeping rough. But Kaine believes someone is helping his little brother lay low. And he’s worried about how
Mason will cope alone.
“He’s shy, he’s quiet, it’s hard to get more than a word out of him,” he said.
“He’s quite a vulnerable lad. He’s 14 and he’s not very street wise.
“I think he must have been at a friend’s house.”
Mason has been missing since around 8pm on Friday. He is around 5ft 8ins to 5ft 10ins tall. Northumbria Police has asked anyone who knows where Mason is to get in touch.
A spokeswoman said: “We can confirm that Mason Gardner, 14, was reported missing after he was last seen in the Walkerville area of Newcastle on March 15.
“A number of enquiries to locate him are currently ongoing, and anyone with information is asked to get in touch.”
■■Call Northumbria Police on 101 quoting reference NP-202403151228.
Crime reporter