THE mother of a teenager with mental health problems who disappeared shortly before a family Christmas dinner is pleading with him to get in touch.

Michael West, a long-term patient at Middleton St George Hospital, in Darlington, had been allowed to return to his home in Avon Road, Peterlee, County Durham, for a Christmas Day visit, but went missing at about 12.45pm.

His mother, Janet Elson, 44, said: "If any of his friends know anything, can they please come forward. Somebody must know where he is -you cannot walk around all this time in this cold weather.

"Even if Michael himself called, just to let me know he is safe. He does not even have to say where he is, it would ease my mind.

"As time goes on I am getting very worried. I would ask everybody to keep an eye out for him and ring the police straight away if they see him.

"He has gone missing once before, for two days, but he always rang home to let me know he was safe.

"That is what is worrying me now, I have not had any phone calls since Christmas night."

The evening he went missing, the 19-year-old, who is known to some as Michael Murray, telephoned his mother from a call box in Hartlepool.

His mother has been putting posters of him up in shops in the Peterlee and Hartlepool areas.

She said: "I would rather be doing something than just sitting waiting.

"I think I am on auto-pilot, really, because I have got to think positive. I am worried about him being out all this time in the cold."

As well as the cold weather, there are also concerns that Michael's health might deteriorate due to him not taking his medication.

Members of the public are asked not to approach the former Shotton Hall Comprehensive School pupil but to contact police if they see him.

He was last seen wearing a cream Puffa jacket with black along the shoulders, a blue hooded top, patterned grey trousers and boots.

Anyone with information is asked to call Peterlee police on 0191-586 2621.