A County Durham man with Down's syndrome has lived his dream after performing in his drag persona online.

Lewis Redhead, 24, from Newton Aycliffe, fulfilled his dream of performing in drag after debuting online in his Lou Lou Lipstick persona, after being inspired at a young age by drag queen Roxy Tart at a show in Turkey.

Michelle Redhead, 54, Lewis' mother, said her son has been obsessed with the performances since and is a big fan of other acts such as Tess Tickle and the Dragettes.

She said she was apprehensive about Lewis' desire to perform at first due to concerns with trolling, but understood this was his passion.

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Ms Redhead, who is a community nurse, said she was overwhelmed with emotion after watching him perform and seeing how much he loved it.

She said: "The last year or so, he's asked for a dress and a wig, it just came from there. He just loves to perform.

"I was a bit nervous at first because I follow a thing on TikTok called Drag Syndrome and the negativity on there and the hate on there to people like Lewis was horrendous.

"I thought, you know what, it's what he wants to do, I'm going to let him do it.

"I had tears in my eyes when I was videoing him doing it because I could see how much he loved it.

"The love he's got off everyone locally is great."

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She said the family have received positive feedback from friends and the Newton Aycliffe community.

Adding to this, she said her son is well-known in the area and regularly sings at their local club.

Ms Redhead said she made Lewis' dress along with her best friend, Andrea, and was gifted a high-quality wig by another drag performer Emma Royd.

She said after the video went up of Lewis performing, she received a message from Emma and Tess Tickle that they were proud of him.

She added Tess Tickle was a big inspiration for Lewis and helped him realise his passion.

"When he put his wig and his makeup on, you could just [see] in his face, he just absolutely loved being dressed up," she added.

"He likes to be the centre of attention, he likes to be performing and entertaining people all the time.

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"He's always wanted to be in drag, but I think it was me that was holding him back for such a long time.

"I'm so, so proud of him. He's just gone above and beyond what everyone thought he could do."

Lee and Amy, Lewis' father and sister, along with Michelle, have said they are extremely proud of him.

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Outside of his performances, Lewis also works as a waiter at a tearoom in Bishop Auckland.

A video of Lewis performing on Facebook was met with very positive reception and lots of people cheering him on.

Ms Redhead said she and her son are now going on their first holiday together to Lanzarote.