The Devon boy with autism who created the Titanic out of Lego - from memory

A 10-year-old autistic boy from Torquay has built a model Titanic out of thousands of lego bricks entirely from memory.

Louie Parker spent three weeks in his bedroom building the masterpiece, after developing a fascination with the infamous British passenger liner.

Cherie Parker, Louie's mum, said it was during lockdown when the family spent more time inside that Louie created the model.

"He sat in his bedroom for three weeks solid - he's been able to create it just from his interest in the Titanic", she said.

"He used to sit in his bedroom and he'd build alongside watching Titanic videos. You can ask him any question about it and he'd reel it off", she said.

"It's the whole sinking process - he loves to work it out. He used to build lego ships and trying to get them to sink in the bathtub at the same angle that the titanic went down."

Louie was diagnosed with autism when he was six years old. Cherie says he struggled in mainstream school, so when he was eight he moved to a specialist school where he "found himself".

"He's thrived ever since he got the placement at the school," she said.

"He has found himself, his communication is up, his education is up - everything has gone amazing."

When Louie's family shared a picture of the 10-year-old's Lego creation on Facebook, it received more than 28,000 likes and thousands of comments.

"He read every single comment and was beaming with pride. He felt like a celebrity," Cherie said.

"People have even been tagging Lego in the comments who replied saying 'you should be so proud'," Cherie said.

Not only had Louie been noticed by Lego, but he has also received three tickets for the Titanic Belfast Museum. 

His local toy shop - The Entertainer - will also be showcasing the ship in their shop window next week.

Since building the Lego creation, the youngster's mum says his confidence has gone from strength to strength.

"He's finally seen his talents", she said. "His confidence levels are up - he's beaming", she said.

Louie says he now plans to build a lego engine from scratch and build the whole collection of ships from The White Star Line.