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Jay Slater missing – latest: New phone footage shows teen in nightclub hours before he disappeared

The 19-year-old teen disappeared a week ago in Tenerife

Namita Singh,Maryam Zakir-Hussain
Monday 24 June 2024 11:05
Jay Slater’s father makes six-word plea to son at visit to site of search

Jay Slater was spotted as he danced in a nightclub hours before he went missing, new footage has shown.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared in Tenerife following an attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

He had attended the NRG music festival on the island with two friends before his disappearance.

It has now emerged that the 19-year-old was seen in Papagayo club in Playa de las Américas in the early hours of Monday, according to an eyewitness.

The man, 20, said he was filming people dancing as he wanted to “remember the moment” of everyone having a good time.

Speaking about Mr Slater, he said he “saw a lad staggering around in front of me”.

“You could see him get up off the ground, everyone turned there to look. They looked a bit concerned,” he told The Telegraph, adding the teen looked “worse for wear”.

In a last call to his friend at around 8.30am on Monday, Mr Slater said he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on one per cent”.

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‘I really don’t know’

Questioned on whether Spanish police should have accepted help from the UK force, Ms Duncan said: “I believe they said they’ve got enough resources and they don’t need the help from English police.

“I don’t know if they find it an insult – I really don’t know. I really don’t know.

“They say they’ve got enough resources to get on with the investigation… I don’t know, I don’t know.”

File photo: Police officers overlook the village of Masca, Tenerife, amid the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater
File photo: Police officers overlook the village of Masca, Tenerife, amid the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater (James Manning/PA Wire)

Matt Mathers23 June 2024 07:45
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Who were the men Mr Slater was with?

After meeting two men, who have been described as British, during the festival, Mr Slater decided to return to their AirBnb while his friends went home.

Little is known about them, and they have since flown back to the UK after being questioned briefly by Spanish police.

In the immediate aftermath of his disappearance, his friend Ms Law tracked them down at their AirBnb after spending time matching images from Mr Slater’s Snapchat to the location.

She told MailOnline: “They seemed startled and surprised that I had found them, and I asked them where Jay was.

“They said he had gone out to try and look for cigarettes and then come back and said he was leaving to try and get a bus back into town.

“They just seemed shocked that I had managed to find them and I know the police have spoken to them but I’ve since found out they have left the country. They need to be spoken to properly.”

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 07:30
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‘We just need you home'

The mother of Jay Slater has issued a direct plea to her missing son on the sixth day of the hunt for the British teenager, saying: “We just need you home.”

Debbie Duncan told the PA news agency she has “not slept” since the 19-year-old disappeared on the Canary Island of Tenerife.

Asked how the family was coping with the situation, Ms Duncan told PA: “We’re not. I’m not coping very well at all.

“I’ve not slept, I’m exhausted. It’s been awful.”

“I can’t give up on him, I just can’t.”

Matt Mathers23 June 2024 07:14
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ICYMI: Possible new last sighting

Jay Slater’s mother has revealed a possible new last sighting of her missing son with two men, ten hours he was last officially seen.

Debbie Duncan, 55, claimed a someone had seen the missing 19-year-old looking “worse for wear” as he sat on a bench at around 6pm on Monday.

She told the Mail Online: “Someone has come forward to say they saw someone who they thought was Jay walking back down the road sat on a bench.

He was with two men looking a bit worse for wear, and they were by a church, this guy has come forward and told the police about it and they are looking into it. We don’t know if it was Jay for sure, but it’s a start.

“They said it was about 6pm which is ten hours after he was seen by the lady in the village. But if it was him what was he doing there and who are these two men?”

It has not been confirmed as a sighting of the missing teenager yet, who was last officially seen at around 8am when he twice asked a cafe owner what time the bus arrived, before walking off.

Fifteen minutes later, he called his friend to say he was lost, dehydrated and had one per cent phone battery.

His last known location was pinged from his phone at 8:50am and placed him on a path in the mountainous terrain of the Rural de Teno national park on the north-west of the island.

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 07:00
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Why did he choose an 11-hour walk instead of waiting for a bus?

Despite being pointed towards a bus stop, Mr Slater decided against waiting another two hours for a bus to take him into town.

Speaking to MailOnline, Ofelia Medina Hernandez said she had seen the teenager standing by the bus stop and had asked about buses back to Los Cristianos.

She said: “I held up my fingers on my hands to say 10am as he didn’t understand me then I went home briefly before driving up the mountain to Buenavista del Norte, but this time I saw him walking on the road out of the village.

“It was no more than ten or fifteen minutes after I had spoken to him and he was about a kilometre from the house. I drove past him and that’s the last I saw him.”

Given that there is a main road nearby, questions have been raised as to why Mr Slater appears to have wandered into the wilderness. His friend Ms Law said: “What I don’t understand is if he did walk down then why wasn’t he seen by anyone? x

“It’s a busy time of day, the place is full of hikers and holidaymakers, he could have asked them for help or stopped somewhere but no one has seen him at all.”

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 06:30
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NRG festival release statement

The festival that Jay Slater attended before he went missing has issued a statement in light of his disappearance.

Mr Slater attended the New Generation Rave music festival in Playa de las Americas with two friends on Sunday evening.

He is believed to have travelled to an Airbnb there during the early hours of Monday morning with two men he met at the festival - without realising the distance from his apartment in the tourist area of Los Cristianos.

At around 8.15am, Mr Slater called his friend Lucy Law, who had been at the festival with him, to tell her he had missed his bus and was planning to make the 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.

He told her he was dehydrated, had cut his leg on a cactus, was unsure of his location, and had hardly any phone battery to use a maps app. This was the last time the teenager’s family and friends heard from him.

The festival issued a statement in which it said it was able to “give some practical support” to Mr Slater’s family.

The statement read: “That such a devastating situation has arisen has deeply affected us all.

“We have been able to give some practical support to the members of Jay’s family who have come to Tenerife in such difficult circumstances, and we are inspired by their resilience and determination.”

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 06:00
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Jay Slater’s Instagram ‘mysteriously accessed since he went missing’

Jay Slater’s Instagram has reportedly been mysteriously accessed since he went missing in Tenerife on Monday.

A family friend issued a warning yesterday on an official Facebook page that has been providing updates on the search.

They posted: “Jay’s mums asked I post this. For everyone asking who has logged into his Instagram account, it’s not him or her, somebody else has logged into it.”

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 05:00
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Police searching in brutal and sparse area known locally as ‘the badlands’

Police have been searching in a brutal and sparse area of Tenerife known locally as “the badlands” for missing British teenager Jay Slater.

Mountain rescue teams were scouring a 2,000ft ravine in a remote park in a northern part of the island on Friday, according to The Sun.

Officers, firefighters, volunteers and sniffer dogs can be seen searching in Teno Nature Reserve in photographs, which is the 19-year-old’s last known location.

The area is known for its “thin” air as well as its rapidly changing temperatures, with local residents and experts warning of the dangerous conditions. The mountains also fall sharply into the water below.

Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 04:00
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Relatives of Celtic fan missing in Lanzarote for a year say they share pain of Jay Slater’s family

The family of a Celtic fan missing in Lanzarote has been told by Spanish police that the case into his disappearance is closed.

Gary Shearer, from Renfrew, vanished just hours after he arrived in the country alone to celebrate St Patrick’s Day on 16 March, 2023. The 53-year-old’s loved ones still have no idea what happened to him.

They say they have been impacted by the news this week of missing teenager Jay Slater, who has gone missing in the other popular Canary Island of Tenerife.

His sister Debbie, 49, told the Daily Record: “The news of Jay Slater has brought all our raw emotions to the surface again. The past few days have been particularly hard for us hearing it all and we know only too well what his family is going through.. We just hope they get the answers they need.”

She said her family is in shock after the police met with her parents to confirm that they had “exhausted all leads”.

(Facebook)
Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 03:00
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Watch: Rescuers embark on sixth day of hunt for missing UK teenager

Jay Slater search: Rescuers embark on sixth day of hunt for missing UK teenager
Athena Stavrou23 June 2024 02:00

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