A mother has fled to Spain with her autistic son after claiming his medication was killing him.
Strathclyde Police have confirmed that Andrew MacVicar, 50, who is autistic, has absconded from his residential home in Paisley, and that he and his mother, Christine MacVicar, 69, are believed to be in Spain.
Mrs MacVicar, from Bridge of Weir, is reported to have claimed her son would have died had they not fled.
She said from an undisclosed location in Spain: "I believe the medication was killing Andrew. I couldn't stand by and watch. I'll never give up fighting for my son."
Mr MacVicar was taken into care two years ago. He has Asperger's syndrome and was also diagnosed as schizophrenic.
He is under a compulsory treatment order (CTO) to take a course of medication, and had been living at accommodation run by Renfrewshire Association for Mental Health in Paisley.
Mrs MacVicar said his medication has left him suicidal and has given him tremors and weight gain.
She said the couple have planned to visit hospitals in Spain and are "receiving support from medical professionals".
Mrs MacVicar believes her son has been misdiagnosed with schizophrenia.
Strathclyde Police confirmed they received a report from social services that Mr MacVicar had absconded and is believed to be in Spain.
A spokeswoman said CTOs are only applicable in the UK.
A spokeswoman for NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde did not comment on the case.
Fiona Sinclair, convenor of Autism Right, said: "Our evidence suggest there are many people with autism trapped within the mental health system being given inappropriate treatment."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article