A PENKETH mum-of-three has issued a heartfelt thanks to all those who helped find her three-year-old son after he went missing in Liverpool on Sunday.

Emma Rooney's emotional post on The Four Squares Facebook page has been liked more than 40,000 times and shared by more than 18,000 people since it was published yesterday, Monday.

In the message, Emma thanked the people of Liverpool and Merseyside Police for their kindness and help to locate her son who was later found safe and well.

She wrote: "To everyone who reads this please share as far as you can in the hope that I can thank with all my heart the people of Liverpool – which at the time felt like hundreds – from old, young, teenage and the homeless.

"You helped me find my boy, Leon, aged three years old.

"He went missing today (Sunday) in Liverpool City centre.

"My heart was broken as he ran off and out of sight and didn't come back.

"But the people of Liverpool, strangers who know nothing of me or my family, stopped in their tracks to help me find him.

"As tears shed – just not from me – you did everything you could and I cannot thank you enough.

"To Merseyside Police, thank you. Thank you for arriving so fast. Thank you for doing everything you could to find my baby. Thank you for being so kind.

"But thank you you to the people who found him, who knew he was alone and didn't leave his side until he was back with his family.

"I thanked all of you that I saw at the time and to those that I didn't and that read this thank you.

"I love the people of Liverpool."

The family had been staying in the city ahead of Duncan Ferguson’s testimonial game.

Leon's dad Del Rooney also posted on the Facebook page to thank those who came to their aid, adding that he and his wife were 'destroyed' when their son ran off.