Holly Willoughby moved to tears over detainment of autistic teenager Matthew Garnett

'It's just incredibly sad when you rely on the system at the most difficult time in your life and you just want to do the best for your son,' says Willoughby

Holly Willoughby appeared tearful during an emotional interview with the parents of Matthew Garnett - the autistic teenager who has spent the last six months held inside a psychiatric unit.

Isabelle and Robin Garnett made an appearance on This Morning, explaining that their son believes he is “in prison” since being detained under the mental health act.

The 15-year-old has been in a Psychiatric Intensive Care Unit since he was sectioned in September 2015.

His parents made the decision to sign paperwork to have him sectioned - a short-term solution for emergency care - but he has been there for half a year as there are no spaces available at specialist autistic units.

The 35-year-old presenter and model welled up as the parents explained the distressing plight of their son.

“It's just incredibly sad, when you rely on the system at the most difficult time in your life and you just want to do the best for your son. And the best you can do is out of your control,“ Willoughby said.

Matthew has autism, ADHD and learning difficulties, as well as complex mental health issues that have yet to be fully assessed.

His mother, Isabelle, went on to express her distress at the situation.

“He is a human being and he is being stripped of his rights, I have been stripped of my mother's rights and I can't even take my son to A&E to get his cast on.

“I cannot even see where my son sleeps”.

His parents have launched an online petition calling for the release of their son which has now garnered 211,000 signatures.

Last month they told The Independent that the teenager’s mental health had deteriorated throughout the six month ordeal.

“Even when he does eventually come out, what’s happened there means we will be starting at a worse point than when he went in,” said his father, Robin.

“He used to twiddle his hair when he was anxious, but now he’s started tearing it out with anxiety.

“We’ve had to give him a crew cut and now, as you can see in the picture, he’s starting to look the prisoner he’s being made into.”

His father also explained that the staff at the ward had no experience in dealing with autism.

A spokesman for Cygnet Health, the NHS contractors running the unit where Matthew is staying said the average stay at the unit was between six to eight weeks, adding that Matthew’s case was “unusual”.