Jay Slater mother, Debbie Duncan, has slammed online trolls targeting her as the search for her missing son continues.
The family has endured vile abuse on social media over the past week, including taunts likening them to Karen Matthews, who hatched an evil plot to kidnap her daughter for ransom.
Debbie is in Tenerife and the search is now in its seventh day, but she still can’t bring herself to go to the spot in the north-west of the island where Jay was last seen.
She said: “People keep asking me on social media ‘why am I not there?’ and calling me the new Karen Matthews. I can’t stand it,” she said from the hotel where the family are staying, adding that they are still waiting for updates from police but there was no new information on Saturday.
Debbie said, I’m still hopeful. I’m still not feeling negative. I know it’s already the fifth day. It’s not just that they haven’t said anything at all. I don’t know what it was like today because I was told not to go near it because I would just collapse.
“My son could be out there somewhere. We’re all devastated. He’s just a normal boy from a small town in Lancashire. Nothing like that happens.” We got in touch when he was in Tenerife. He was on holiday, had saved up and was looking forward to it. I haven’t slept in five days. My brain isn’t working properly and I’m exhausted.
A GoFundMe page set up for Jay’s family has now raised more than £28,000. Lucy Law, who was on holiday with 19-year-old Jay when he went missing, appealed for the public’s help as the family continues their search.
Rachel Louise Hague, administrator of the official Facebook page set up to search for Jay, said people had “hacked” into Jay’s family’s social media accounts and it was “driving her crazy”.
She said on the Facebook page that money from the fundraiser had been deposited into Jay’s mother’s bank account and used for room and board.
Nearly a dozen more GoFundMe pages had to be shut down due to suspected fraud. The crowdfunding platform said it had removed a number of fundraisers and that efforts were underway to verify the identities of the organisers and ensure that donations had been sent to Jay’s family.
A spokesperson said in a statement: “All campaigns are verified and no money is sent unless it can be proven that it will go directly to his family. In moments like these, when people feel like helping strangers, we often see them create campaigns that benefit them.
That is why we work with organisers to ensure any money donated goes to the right place.
“GoFundMe has a dedicated trust and security team that verifies all associated fundraisers. In addition to this team of experts, we use proprietary technology tools and have multiple processes in place to verify the identity of fundraiser organisers and recipients. Before funds are sent, we must verify the individual or organisation’s information, including bank account details.”
Karen Matthews is notorious for conspiring with loner Mick Donovan to kidnap her nine-year-old daughter Shannon from Dewsbury in exchange for a £50,000 reward for her safe return. In 2008, Shannon was held captive in Donovan’s dilapidated council housing flat for 24 days while police and residents searched for her.
Shannon disappeared on her way home from a swimming lesson at Westmoor Primary School in Dewsbury and was found hiding under Donovan’s bed in the Batley Carr discovery after the largest search in British history, costing West Yorkshire Police £3.2 million. Donovan and Karen Matthews were sentenced to eight years in prison in 2009.