Rishton, Lancashire, UK – A man left with a “skull split open” after a brutal machete attack, allegedly carried out by a gang that included Jay Slater, has spoken out on the ongoing search for the missing teenager. Tom Hilton, then 17, was attacked by a group of eight individuals wielding a machete, golf clubs, and an axe in Rishton, Lancashire, in 2021. The victim, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, was given an 18-month community order with rehabilitation activities and unpaid work for his involvement in the violent incident.
Hilton had to navigate through the courts on the attacker Slater, who subsequently disappeared while vacationing in Tenerife. Online trolls intensified reports on Slater’s role in the assault, seeing his vanishing as retribution. A judge characterized the gang’s actions as resembling a “pack of wolves,” driving the teenage victim to flee for his life through nearby woods.
El Dia, a Canary Islands newspaper, headlined a story focusing on Slater’s troubled past and his connection to the violent encounter in Lancashire. As the investigation into Slater’s whereabouts passed its second week, social media was ablaze with conspiracy theories, including a threatening Snapchat message received by his mother, Debbie Duncan. Duncan faced backlash over a fundraising page she set up to collect funds to aid in her son’s search, defending it against critics and warning them of similar misfortunes that could befall them.
In an update, Duncan expressed gratitude for the outpour of support and generosity, revealing plans to utilize the collected funds to bolster search efforts, cover accommodation costs, and facilitate the travel of loved ones to Tenerife to offer moral support during the distressing times. The community’s solidarity and donations, she articulated, meant the world to them as they persevered in the unyielding pursuit to locate and reunite with Jay.