TYCOON’S DAUGHTER DIES IN POOL TRAGEDY
THE daughter of one of the founders of a major north Wales firm has drowned on holiday. Josie Clacher, 18, who was daughter of Moneypenny mastermind Rachel Clacher, was taking an early-morning swim in the pool at the family’s villa in Majorca.
She died on Tuesday morning at around 7am in the villa in the town of Alaro at the foot of the Tramuntana mountains, where she was staying with friends and family, including her mum, Rachel.
Miss Clacher is understood to have been found at the bottom of the pool by friends.
A neighbour raised the alarm and paramedics fought to save her, but were unable to.
Her mum, Rachel – who was staying with Josie at the villa – founded Wrexham-based Moneypenny, an international telephone-answering service said to be worth more than £100m.
Mrs Clacher founded the firm with her brother, Ed Reeves, in 2000.
In 2014 she established the Moneypenny Foundation, a charity now called We Mind The Gap, which gives new opportunities in life and work to unemployed, under-served young people through holistic paid traineeships.
Miss Clacher’s father, David, is believed to work as an optometrist.
Josie, one of three sisters, studied at prestigious boarding school Moreton Hall, near Oswestry in north Shropshire. She would have turned 19 this month.
Investigators are still probing the cause of Josie’s death and a post-mortem examination is due to take place.
The Moneypenny offices are famous
for having their own pub, treehouse and gym and have been called “the best offices in Wales “.
They were opened by Prince Charles in 2017.
In a statement, a spokeswoman for Moneypenny said: “We are all devastated by the very tragic news. Our thoughts and prayers are with the family at this extremely sad time.”
Mrs Clacher was appointed a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list earlier this year, saying at the time: “I am honoured to be receiving a CBE in the Queen’s Honours list.
“It is wonderful to receive acknowledgement for Moneypenny’s success, and for We Mind The Gap.
“I strongly believe in doing the right thing, treating people well and providing ongoing support.”
Mrs Clacher and Mr Reeves founded Moneypenny with £10,000 of their own money. It now employs 700 staff and handles more than 13 million customer communications a year for 13,000 businesses.
It has been recognised in The Sunday Times 100 Best Companies to Work For five times, including a topfive listing in 2015 and 2017.