Jay Slater's employer urges people to stop sending them 'cruel' emails

Sky News
Updated ·3-min read

The construction company which employs missing teenager Jay Slater has urged people to stop sending them "cruel" emails as the search for him enters its 11th day.

PH Build Group has shared "one of many" messages it has been sent as conspiracy theories about the 19-year-old's disappearance are circulated by social media users online.

The construction firm wrote in a Facebook post: "These people are trying to ruin people's lives and businesses (while) sat behind a screen looking for attention.

"Everyone may have their own theories and feelings but to publicly post them knowing you are going to hurt people is just cruel.

"Jay's family shouldn't have to endure this.

"The only thing that should matter right now is getting a 19-year-old son back to his family where he belongs."

Mr Slater's mother Debbie Duncan and friends of the teenager have previously been at the centre of online conspiracy theories about his disappearance.

The apprentice bricklayer had been holidaying with friends in southern Tenerife before travelling to the northwestern mountain village of Masca with two people he met at the NRG music festival on Sunday 16 June.

The teenager, from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, told a friend over the phone at 8:30am the following morning that he was walking back to his holiday accommodation after missing a bus - a journey that would take 11 hours on foot.

He also said he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.

Mr Slater's family have flown out to Tenerife as police and mountain rescuers continue to search for the teenager.

PH Build's Group latest comments come after the company shared a Facebook post earlier this week saying the "picture being painted" of Mr Slater is "just not true".

The company wrote on Monday: "We have decided to remove our last post due to all the negative comments and conspiracy theories.

"Jay has been with us since he left school and is liked by all. He's a valued member of our team and we stand by him.

"The picture being painted of him is just not true. The fact is he's a 19-year-old lad missing in a foreign country. He needs to be back home where he belongs. Come on Jay we are all praying for you."

👉 Click to subscribe to the Sky News Daily wherever you get your podcasts 👈

Police officers told Sky News on Wednesday that the search for Mr Slater had honed in on specific areas.

They added they were examining the area, a rock face where there is water source, with the help of drones.

They said the land they were focusing on was arid, barren and difficult to get to on foot.

Spanish police have also released new footage of the hunt for the teenager after Mr Slater's father said the family were being kept in the dark by some officers.

It shows a helicopter searching the mountainous area, with search teams on foot having been joined by sniffer dogs.

Read more:
'I know how Jay Slater's parents must feel'
Specialist dogs brought in to help with search
Slater's dad says police keeping family in the dark

The last person to see Mr Slater was Masca resident Ofelia Medina Hernandez who spoke to the teenager on Monday 17 June.

Ms Hernandez said she told him a bus was due at 10am as he seemingly hoped to get back to his accommodation.

However, he set off walking - and she said she later drove past him while he was "walking fast".

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • Police investigate video 'showing female prison officer having sex with inmate in Wandsworth Prison cell'

    The Ministry of Justice called in police after the video was released online

  • Chinese woman who tried to shield Japanese mother and her child from bus stop knife attack dies

    Japanese embassy in China lowers its flag to half mast to honour victim Hu Youping’s death

  • China honours woman who died saving Japanese family

    Hu Youping, a bus attendant, tried to restrain an assailant at a bus stop outside a Japanese school.

  • Cow charges into home and crashes family's dinner

    This is the moment a cow escaped from a neighbor and charged into a family's home in Gia Lai, Vietnam on June 17. The angry bovine hit several people during its rampage but was chased out of the house. Luckily, no one suffered any major injuries.

  • A pair of siblings were stabbed and the sister’s dying words were that the killer was a man from Detroit. Thirty-four years later, he’s been arrested.

    Pamela Sumpter, was raped and stabbed, and her brother John Sumpter was stabbed to death, at their Georgia home on July 15, 1990

  • 12 ultra-wealthy people who aren't leaving their fortunes to their children

    Laurene Powell Jobs, the widow of Apple cofounder Steve Jobs, said that her family's billionaire status "ends with me."

  • Barrett breaks with conservatives over Jan. 6 obstruction charge ruling

    In a pointed dissent, Justice Amy Coney Barrett skewered her fellow justices over their decision to narrow an obstruction charge used to prosecute scores of rioters who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. The Supreme Court voted 6-3 on Friday to side with Joseph Fischer, a former police officer accused of partaking in the…

  • She died a convicted killer. On Friday, her kids saw a judge declare her innocent

    Connie Dahl's sons were 3 and 8 when there mother was taken away in handcuffs, accused of a brutal murder. On Friday, a California judge declared her innocent — 39 years after the killing.

  • Ex-‘American Ninja Warrior’ Champion Sentenced In Child Exploitation Case

    A former American Ninja Warrior champion has been sentenced to more than 10 years in prison for having a sexual relationship with a teenage girl. After prison, Andrew Drechsel, age 35, must additionally serve 15 years of supervised release and pay the victim $100,000 in restitution, Chief U.S. District Judge Renée M. Bumb ruled in …

  • Urbicide: ‘Even if Israel stops bombing Gaza tomorrow, it will be impossible to live there'

    Eight months of war have destroyed more than 55% of the structures in Gaza, according to the latest report from the UN Satellite Centre. The enclave's main towns have been devastated by Israeli bombardment, rendering them almost uninhabitable. The destruction has been called an example of “urbicide” – the deliberate, utter destruction of an urban area. "All the houses have been turned into ruins. We're lost, we don't know exactly where our homes are in the midst of this massive destruction," sai

  • A year ago, she drank battery acid to escape life under the Taliban. Today, she has a message for other Afghan girls

    Arzo survived a suicide attempt but now faces a new threat that could send her family – and millions like them – back to Afghanistan and a life that has become so intolerable for women and girls that some would rather die.

  • South Korean LGBT couples want to help boost low birth rate

    STORY: South Koreans Kim Eun-ha and Park Cho-hyeon want to get married and have children.It’s a plan that fits in with the government’s ambition to boost the country’s birth rates - which currently stand as the world’s lowest. But same-sex marriage is illegal in South Korea. And doctors refuse to perform artificial insemination on women without a male partner.:: File:: Kim Eun-ha “People who oppose LGBT couples say our relationship is a sin. And with the low birth rate, it is also another sin that we aren't having children. However, I think it is a bit ironic as we're in a situation where we're not allowed to have children even if we want to.”The couple plan to go to Australia to get married – even though the South Korean government will not recognize their union. :: FileEfforts to legalize same-sex marriage have been successful in Taiwan and Thailand. But not in South Korea. The LGBT community there faces strong opposition from conservative religious groups, which have mounted fierce resistance to efforts to pass anti-discrimination laws.Kim and Park, who live together with their dog Whipping, have started a YouTube channel to raise awareness about LGBT issues. But Park says acceptance of sexual minorities is very low in South Korea.:: Park Cho-hyeon “From the extreme comments we receive on our YouTube channel, we can see how prevalent negative perceptions of LGBTQ people are and how many people are hiding their true identities. Therefore, I think the awareness and acceptance of sexual minorities, LGBTQ, in our country is really, really low.”:: June 1, 2024Kim Ji-hak heads non-profit organization Diversity Korea.He says the government should acknowledge diversity if it is serious about increasing the birthrate.:: Kim Ji-hak, Director of Diversity Korea“I believe that the state and government should create an environment where everyone, regardless of their family structure, can live with dignity, without the need to form a conventional family model. If we become a society where people don't have to worry about healthcare, education, labor and ageing, everyone will want to have more children."South Korea has spent billions of dollars to try to stop its population from shrinking.Concerns about career advancement and the financial cost of raising children drive many women to delay childbirth or not have children at all. Despite these efforts, the population declined for a fourth straight year in 2023.Kim and Park say the lack of recognition for LGBT unions is the biggest obstacle to boosting the country's birth rate.“We actually want to have children, but in South Korea, there are no policies to support us to have children. In fact, we are being prevented from having them. Additionally, society looks down on us for wanting to have children, which is quite disappointing.”

  • Stabbed man had 'heart of gold', his family says

    Paying tribute to the 23-year-old, his family say they will "never be the same without him".

  • Driver chains £100,000 Land Rover to tree in bid to stop thieves

    A Land Rover owner has chained their car to a tree in London to prevent it being stolen.

  • Former “American Ninja Warrior” Champion Drew Drechsel Sentenced to 10 Years for Child Sex Crimes

    The TV competitor was arrested in August 2020 after having a sexual relationship with a teenage victim he met in 2014

  • A 12-year-old who loved Harry Potter and old music: What we know about Jocelyn Nungaray and the men accused in her death

    Twelve-year-old Jocelyn Nungaray was on a walk to the convenience store in Houston when she disappeared and was found dead in a creek earlier this month, police said.

  • The unsettling resurgence of hunger cries out for global action – our very social fabric is at stake

    Hunger is making a comeback. The UN estimates that almost 300 million people are acutely food insecure, nearly double the number at the start of the decade. Updates about the looming threat of famine in Gaza and Sudan, horrific pictures of malnourished children, and ever-more desperate humanitarian funding appeals commonly intrude into our social media feeds. It is hard to think that only a decade ago, hunger was on the decline, and that the world’s governments even committed to eliminating it b

  • Man who stopped female driver sentenced for impersonating police officer

    Wiltshire Police described the incident as ‘concerning’.

  • Singapore charges activists over pro-Palestinian letters

    The letters addressed to the prime minister appealed to the government to end ties with Israel.

  • Watch: Moment police arrest man accused of plotting to kidnap and rape Holly Willoughby

    A security guard accused of a plot to kidnap, rape and murder Holly Willoughby said the star was “a fantasy of mine” as police raided his flat, according to body-worn video footage played in court.