A MASSIVE search for a missing boy ended in a ditch on a windswept golf course yesterday.

Dozens of police officers had been looking for seven-year-old Ryan Mason near his home in Great Lever since Tuesday afternoon.

They knew it would be a race against time. But time ran out so fast.

Ryan's mother Lynn was waiting anxiously at home, nervous about every knock at the door as police searched the streets for any clues to his disappearance.

She kept the door closed to strangers but peered through her letter box once to say she was frightened and wanted Ryan back.

Close friends and police officers tried to comfort her while neighbours and journalists kept a vigil outside. But as they waited for news a search team was already moving in on the Great Lever and Farnworth Golf Course about two miles away. Houses, sheds and gardens had already been checked.

But the course was the one area of open ground that still had to be investigated.

It was there -- in a wooded gully between two fairways -- that the boy's body was finally found yesterday afternoon.

From the clubhouse car park a small group of onlookers saw a lone policeman make the grim find.

The distant figure could be seen walking around the gully.

Then he stopped and pointed into the trees. A helicopter buzzed overhead.

Parents in Great Lever had been talking about Ryan's disappearance all day. Many kept their children indoors.

Shopkeepers had also asked customers if they had seen the boy and passers-by talked about him in the streets.

But many local people were still unaware of the youngster's fate as yesterday drew to an end.

Today they could only guess what his mother had gone through when she was told her son would not be coming home.

Officials at Great Lever and Farnworth Golf Club said they were shocked and saddened today at the discovery of the body of schoolboy Ryan. Captain Jim Foley said police contacted the club in Plodder Lane and permission was granted for teams to conduct a search of the course at midday yesterday.

The body was found an hour later in a wet woodland area at the side of the fourth fairway. It was confirmed today as that of Ryan Mason after a post mortem examination.

Mr Foley said: "It was a terrible shock. Everybody connected with the golf club have offered their condolences to the family. We can see their house from the course.

"We were playing golf up there quite near to the area where the body was found. Everybody at the club was deeply saddened."

Police sealed off the area with tape as forensic examinations began although the course was not closed. It was expected to be open today although the area is likely to remain sealed off.