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'True friend' Sir Richard praised by jet skier wife
SIR Richard Branson has proved "a true friend" to the wife of missing South Yorkshire jet ski ace Jeremy Hoyland.
Jacqui Hoyland, aged 44, says the billionaire adventurer has been in regular contact with her and is using his influence and resources to assist in her desperate search for 41-year-old husband who disappeared off the coast of Bali.
The mum-of-two from Talbot Road, Penistone, said Sir Richard was helping her obtain information from Vodafone which would pinpoint her husband's location when he made his last two mobile phone calls while adrift after his machine broke down as he returned to Tanjung Benoa beach.
The tycoon is also pressuring the UK Government to throw resources behind her search and has even assigned an employee to work with her.
Jacqui said Sir Richard was helping her because he had faced danger on the seas himself - only last month he had to pull out of an attempt to break a trans-Atlantic sailing record due to bad weather.
And he was appalled at the lack of help from the Government, she added.
She said: "Sir Richard is proving to be a true friend, and his help points up the total lack of interest from ministers.
"There is still a chance Jeremy is alive, and I keep telling the girls there's a chance until we find something to suggest otherwise - even though each day that chance gets slimmer and slimmer."
The couple have two children, Georgia, 11, and Ellena, 13.
The ex-Penistone Grammar School pupil was with three friends when he went missing in choppy water.
He made two phone calls to a pal in Sheffield, the first to say his jet ski was having problems, then that it was taking on water. He has not been seen since.
Jacqui said she had spoken to one of the jetskiers who was with Jeremy on the water, pal Peter De Smet from Belgium.
Mr De Smet raised the alarm when he returned to shore after a fruitless search for Jeremy in choppy water. But it was about two hours before a helicopter reached the scene, Jacqui said.
She said: "He could have drifted hundreds of miles, perhaps even to Australia.
"Jeremy is a survivor and I won't stop until I've found him, whatever the outcome.
"We are a family and we will stick together through this because we have to. Nothing is going to stop us, but it's the not knowing that makes it harder."
Jeremy has more than 10 years experience as a jet skier and is also an experienced administrator.
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Weather for Sheffield
Saturday 26 May 2012
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Temperature: 9 C to 21 C
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