A bar has apologised and sacked its marketing firm after a post on its Facebook page mocking the disappearance of Jay Slater.

The owners of Bees Knees bar in Accrington, Lancashire, said the image, making light of the search for the 19-year-old, had been posted by Affordable Social.

They described the post as “completely unacceptable” and said the bar had donated £1,000 to a crowdfunding page supporting Mr Slater’s family.

Affordable Social also apologised, saying the employee responsible “no longer works” for the company.

The bar is only a short distance from Mr Slater’s home town of Oswaldtwistle and the teenager is believed to have been a customer on occasion.

In a statement, also posted on its Facebook page, Bees Knees said it had terminated its contract with Affordable Social after “not receiving an adequate explanation”.

The company which runs the bar, headquartered in Blackburn, said it had contracted Affordable Social three months ago to improve its social media presence with light-hearted posts, including “humour and sports talk”.

It said: “The post that made it onto the page was neither one of the above and was highly insensitive and deeply offensive.

“As a business we are utterly gobsmacked that this has happened and how somebody could find good humour in a missing boy.

“I can’t stress enough nobody within the pub company has posted this status, some of whom are receiving threatening messages which is completely unacceptable.”

It said the company recognised the “damage was done” but had sent the money to the crowdfunding page to help Mr Slater’s family.

Acceptable Social said it was “deeply distressed” by the post and added that it had been removed within minutes.

Mr Slater has not been seen or heard from since the morning of 17 June, when he called friends to say he was lost in a mountainous area in northern Tenerife.

On Sunday, the Spanish police said the official search had ended, although an investigation into Mr Slater’s disappearance was continuing.

Rachel Hargreaves, the mother of Mr Slater’s best friend Brad Hargreaves, is on the island supporting his mother Debbie Duncan.

On Sunday she said the family were planning to carry on the search and were seeking volunteers to help.

They have no intention of leaving, she said.

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