THE mother of a boy who has been missing since he fell into the River Wear last week has spoken publicly for the first time.

Eight-year-old Ian Bell, from Sunnybrow, near Crook, County Durham, has not been seen since last Friday night.

He had been playing with friends close to the River Wear when he is thought to have fallen from an embankment into the water and was swept away by the fast flowing river, swollen by recent heavy rain.

His mother, Claire Bell, said: "We still have hope in our hearts that Ian will be found soon and just want to find him and bring him home.

"As Ian’s mother I have always made sure he was aware of the dangers when playing nearby to the river.

"We are all devastated that we may never find Ian, but we will always have hope and will continue to search for him.

"Our friends and neighbours have been fantastic over the last few days and we would like to thank everyone involved in the search for their help, it means such a lot to the family during this extremely difficult time that we have the support of our tight knit community."

Yesterday the authorities began the process of scaling down the search but members of the community are continuing to look for Ian until he is found.

Hundreds of volunteers have been assisting the search and have rallied around the family to offer comfort as well as searching into the night to find the missing eight-year-old.