A mum has told of the terrifying moment her five-year-old son went missing at the beach, sparking a frantic 90-minute search.

Candy Archer from Hythe had gone to the seaside in Dymchurch with her husband Ryan and their three children - Winston, Maxim, 14, and Alessandra, seven.

But what they thought would be an enjoyable few hours on the sand turned into a parent’s worst nightmare - as they feared someone had “snatched” Winston.

After arriving at the car park on Sunday, Mrs Archer stayed behind to pay for parking while the children went down to the beach with their dad. But after she met with them, their youngest was nowhere to be seen.

“Winston was literally there one second, and gone the next,” she recalled.

“He is a bit of a lad and this is not his first offence. Just a few months ago, he smashed his head open down Hythe beach and had to have stitches. If there's trouble, he'll walk into it.

“We started looking for him immediately thinking he's going to be sitting eating someone else’s picnic or playing with someone else’s toys because he'll talk to anybody.”

But the family, who had pitched up their things on the beach near the High Knocke Estate, became more restless after Winston was still nowhere to be seen after half an hour of searching.

“We were running up and down the beach and everyone surrounding us was looking for him and calling his name. Where he still hadn't appeared, panic set in and we were like, right, this is serious,” Mrs Archer added.

“There must have been at least 100 people helping to look for him. I know we were so panicked, but it was so lovely with how many people just binned everything they were doing and were like, ‘Right, we're helping.’

“It was like a search team. It was crazy.

“We called the coastguard who sent the boats out, we were going up and down the shore – everybody was looking. My husband and I ran like a 10k each, literally hoofing it up and down the beach, looking for him.”

The Met Police were also on the beach and helping to find Winston.

“I was losing the plot because I thought someone's taken him,” the mum added.

“My husband thought he'd drowned, but because we hadn't found his bucket and spade, I thought, no, he hasn't got in the sea because if he had done, the bucket and spade would be there.

“I thought something horrible had happened and someone had snatched him.”

After almost one-and-a-half hours, Mrs Archer finally got the call she had been hoping for – Winston had been found safely and was at Dymchurch Amusements.

“It was so terrifying, but we were just so grateful that so many people helped us,” she said.

“My husband ran barefoot to the amusements to get Winston – he’s got cuts all over his feet.

“I genuinely thought I was never going to see him again after the half-hour point and I fell to the floor when I got the call.”

Mrs Archer has now ordered GPS trackers that she will give to her children when they go out in case they get lost.

“What happened was that Winston had lost his bearings, looked up and thought, ‘I can't see mummy or daddy’, so wandered off and sat on the steps,” she added.

“He said a Chinese lady who didn't speak a word of English, was talking to him and he was just crying saying, ‘I've lost my mummy.’

“Bless her, I don't think she knew what to do so she walked him from where we were, which is right down the end of St Mary's Bay, all the way to Dymchurch Amusements.”

Winston and his dad then got driven back by a police car to where they had originally pitched up on the beach, which Winston said was “pretty good”.

“He got lost while looking for shells,” Mrs Archer added.

“After he got back, he said, ‘At least I got my big shell.’”