Owen Harding: First Christmas since his disappearance 'devastating' says mother

• Video report from ITV News Meridian reporter Andy Dickenson

A mother from East Sussex has told ITV News Meridian of the "devastating" prospect of spending Christmas without her son, nine months after he disappeared.

Owen Harding was last seen leaving his home in Saltdean in March, but police and the local community have been able to find no trace of him anywhere.

His mother Stella said she is "massively grieving" that he will not be with them over the festive period.

"The days and weeks that followed the day he disappeared are all a bit of a blur," she said.

Owen stormed out the family home at the start of lockdown, angry at the prospect of not being able to see his girlfriend, who lives in York.

When he didn't come home that evening, the local community jumped into action and the search began in earnest.

"The only way that I coped was with my friends, my family and the wider community that helped me so much."

One of the angles being explored by detectives was that Owen had attempted to travel to York.

But Stella feels that "so much time has past", now making that highly unlikely.

His mother said he is well liked in the local area.

"The people he went to college with, the teachers, his old school, his football team, the community of people we've known in the area for years, absolutely everyone loves Owen."

That has made his disappearance "difficult for everyone," she said, especially during isolation brought on by the pandemic.

But she also said that she hopes people listening to her story will "look out for each other and help each other...that's what we really need."

Stella Harding continues to hope that some new evidence will come to light to explain his disappearance.

Meanwhile her partner has written and released a song, raising money for the Missing People charity.

But she said that the prospect of Owen not being around this Christmas will be "devastating."

"I'm going to make it as amazing as I can for my daughter, but this is going to be our first Christmas without Owen.

"It's going to be really hard."

You can report sightings or information that could help through Missing People, the missing persons charity.