THE DISTRAUGHT mum of tragic Brandon Patton has spoken of the horrific moment she learned her son had drowned in a freak accident.

The18-year-old died after he got into difficultly whilst out swimming in Loch Doon on a hot day last month whilst out enjoying the weather with friends.

His mum Lianne Patton, was visiting relatives in Cumbernauld and rushed down to Ayrshire after hearing of the news that her son had disappeared underneath the water.

She said: “When I first heard about what happened.

"I just completely went into shock. I was screaming, screaming for my boy.

"I wanted to go up there, but the police said there was no point and there was nothing I could do.”

Brandon was with friends at the Loch near his Patna home when he began to struggle after swimming out towards the middle of the water.

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Shocked pals panicked as they couldn’t get out close enough to reach him and Lianne explained how one friend risked his own life to save Brandon.

Lianne said: “His friend Michael had a dislocated shoulder, a couple of the younger ones jumped in and started swimming towards them and about turned, but Michael was shouting ‘you need to go, you need to keep going’.

“Michael took his sling off, ran and jumped into the water and he was shouting to him to relax and to lie on his back. He near enough got out to him, but he was getting into difficulties, so he had to go back and get out of the water.”

Brandon’s body was foundthe next day after a huge search operation involving specialist diving teams and a helicopter hoping to find the teen on the other side of the Loch.

In the days that followed Brandon’s tragic death, Lianne had to face telling his two little sisters, Jasmine, 10 and Jessica, seven, that their beloved big brother would not be coming home.

They were both just about to leave for a weekend away to Craig Tara when the police came to the door to break the tragic news.

But Lianne decided to let them enjoy their holiday, before sitting them down to tell them.

She said: “We decided to just go down the route of he’s an angel, think that is the best way you can tell it to children.

"I just told them ‘You know how Brandon was a great boy, always smiling and always happy, well God takes some people and he always chooses extra special people, and unfortunately now Brandon’s been chosen.’”

Jasmine drew him a card which had a wee grave and a wee angel on it and she wrote inside,‘I am so sad and I am going write a letter to you every year.’”

“We took them out on Saturday to get outfits for the funeral and they both decided they wanted to wear Celtic tops too. It was when we were out the two of them broke down and were crying.”

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Lianne says she is thankful that police were able to find Brandon’s body so quickly.

She said: “When they did actually find him and got him out the water, this police officer had a quick look at him and they got straight in the car and came straight down to tell me because there was people all over the place, up in the hills.”

Lianne says she can’t understand why Brandon tried to swim in the loch after years of warning him about the dangers of water.

She added: “If I had been there, never in a million years would I have let him attempt that.

“It’s the one thing we tried to drill into him about the dangers of the water, so for that to be the way that he went is just so cruel.”