Jay Slater missing – latest: Family urged to use GoFundMe to carry on search as TikToker uncovers ‘new clue’

Spanish police haved called off the search for Jay Slater almost two weeks after he vanished on Tenerife

Jay Slater’s father makes six-word plea to son at visit to site of search

Jay Slater’s family have been urged to use fundraising donations to hire “experts” to continue the search for the missing teenager.

Spanish police said the hunt for the 19-year-old from Lancashire had ended, with the case remaining open on Sunday as the gruelling search entered another week.

But his family have vowed to carry on looking for him regardless.

TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas flew out to conduct his own investigation and has urged the family to use some of the £46,000 raised to help continue the search.

He wrote on X: “In light of the police search ending. I have suggested the family should use the GoFundMe money to continue the search using experts in searching.”

It comes as an amateur sleuth claimed to be following an unofficial “new clue”.

TikTok climber Paul Arnott, who has been searching for Jay in Tenerife, said that a pair of sunglasses similar to the ones Jay was last seen wearing had been found close to where his mobile phone last pinged. 

Key Points

• Family ‘vow to carry on search’
• Spanish police call off search for Jay Slater
• Jay Slater’s father ‘disappointed’ at lack of volunteers
• Jay Slater’s father and brother attend search site

[1 July 2024 16:24 · Athena Stavrou]

Jay Slater: Everything we know about the Briton missing in Tenerife

Worried relatives and friends are still searching for a sighting of British teenager Jay Slater after he vanished on the island of Tenerife.

The 19-year-old was on his first ever holiday without his family when he vanished as he walked back to his accommodation last Monday morning.

He had gone to stay with two people he had met at the NRG music festival and, having missed the last bus back, embarked on what would have been an 11 hour walk.

Read the full story here:

[1 July 2024 14:50 · Athena Stavrou]

Here’s why so little progress has been made in finding Jay Slater

Located in a steep valley in the beautiful Rural de Teno park, the remote village of Masca is a heaven for hikers and adventurers travelling to Tenerife.

Yet for the family and friends of Jay Slater, it has become the place of nightmares because its rugged landscape and steep ravines easily hide clues which could shed light on the teenager’s disappearance.

Having seen the search first-hand, it is understandable how such little progress has been made in 12 days. The young Briton’s phone was last located near a stretch of road by the Mirador La Cruz de Hilda cafe, with cacti and dense shrubbery on either side, making it slow work for helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs to comb through the area.

Holly Evans writesTenerife’s unforgiving terrain has made the hunt for the missing British teenager an arduous task.

[1 July 2024 14:20 · Athena Stavrou]

Jay Slater’s friend reveals details of final phone call

One of Jay Slater’s closest friends has revealed details of a phone call which took place shortly before he disappeared in the mountains of Tenerife.

An emotional Brad Hargreaves said that he heard the teenager sliding on gravel and that he had encouraged him to order a taxi, after they realised he had travelled miles away from their accommodation.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Mr Hargreaves said that he could also hear Mr Slater’s feet sliding on the rocks, signalling to him his friend “went off the road... That’s how I knew he went off the road because, you know when you walk on gravel, or whatever it is, you can... you know what I mean, stones.

“He was on the phone walking down a road and he’d gone over a little bit - not a big drop - but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring you back, I’ll ring you back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.

“If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again… He wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.”

(This Morning)

[1 July 2024 13:48 · Athena Stavrou]

TV detective continues investigation as police finish search

TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas said he now has a ‘very detailed picture’ of Jay Slater’s movements before he went missing as he continues his private investigation.

Tenerife’s Civil Guard ceased their search for the missing 19-year-old on Sunday after almost 2 weeks of searching the Rural de Teno park.

Williams-Thomas, who helped investigate Nicola Bulley’s dissapearance, urged his family to use the GoFundMe donations to pay for private detectives to keep the search alive.

He wrote on X: “Although the police search in the mountains and around Masca has concluded, the police investigation into Jay Slater’s disappearance remains ongoing. In regard to our investigation we have been able to speak to important witnesses and now have a very detailed picture of Jays movements over 16 & 17th along with important background information. We still have a number of outstanding actions , but have given the family a preliminary breakdown of findings.

“In light of the police search ending. I have suggested the family should use the GoFundMe money to continue the search using experts in searching.”

[1 July 2024 13:18 · Athena Stavrou]

ICYMI: British hiker, 70, found dead in Spain

A British hiker who went missing in Spain on Monday has been found dead, authorities have announced

The 70-year-old man from London was discovered in the western Pyreneesfollowing a search and rescue operation.

The Spanish Civil Guard said he was located by three members of the rescue team at 1pm local time on Thursday near the Aspe peak.

The Civil Guard contacted the air unit and the hiker was transferred to a nearby mountain refuge.

Concerns were raised for the hiker on Monday at about 6pm when Interpol’s Manchester office contacted the Spanish authorities with the co-ordinates of an electronic bracelet the man was wearing. Interpol had concerns he could be either injured or lost.

Read the full story here:

[1 July 2024 12:16 · Athena Stavrou]

GoFundMe nearing £50k mark

The official fundraiser for Jay Slater is nearing the £50,000 mark as his family are advised to use the funds to continue the search privately.

As of noon on Monday, the GoFundMe stands at £46,680, with a total of 3.9k donations.

The Tenerife Civil Guard calling off the search does not appear to have deterred people from donating. Questions have previously been raised about how the funds would be used, with Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan assuring they would be used to cover family and friends’ costs as they look for Jay.

TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas said had advised the family to continue their search privately.

He wrote on X: “In light of the police search ending. I have suggested the family should use the GoFundMe money to continue the search using experts in searching.”

[1 July 2024 11:53 · Athena Stavrou]

Ex-British police suggests Jay Slater ‘may not be missing’

A former British police officer has suggested that Jay Slater might not be missing at all and the police should thoroughly investigate his disappearance in Tenerife.

Graham Wettone, who served in the Met for three decades, told MailOnline that the Spanish police should “take another look” after the law enforcement authorities called off the search for the missing teenager nearly two weeks after he vanished.

“It seems to me on the face of it that they are just focusing on the mountain, but I would hope they are looking at other avenues and those include criminality,” he said.

“I’ve been following this case closely and discussing it with colleagues and it’s certainly a very bizarre one, lots of things just don’t add up,” the ex-cop added.

[1 July 2024 11:07 · Athena Stavrou]

Ex-British police urges Spanish authorities to check other lead

A former Scotland Yard detective has urged Spanish police to look into Jay Slater’s bank accounts as the search for the 19-year-old is called off.

Graham Wettone also said he hoped the Civil Guard had at least secured the AirBnb Jay was at to collect evidence.

He told MailOnline: “They seem to be focusing primarily on the fact that they were told he wandered off into the mountain, but we are now almost two weeks in, and nothing has been found up there.

“I would hope that they have at least secured the Airbnb because if evidence is there then it will need to be gathered.

“But to be honest, I would even go back further to the days leading up to his disappearance - have they checked his bank accounts for anything untoward in the hours before he went missing.”

[1 July 2024 10:30 · Athena Stavrou]

Jay Slater case ‘doesn’t add up’ ex-Met officer says as he urges Spanish police to let British force help

Spanish police have been urged to accept help from British investigators in the hunt for Jay Slater in Tenerife, as a former police officer warned: “Things just don’t add up.”

Policing expert Graham Wettone, who was in the Metropolitan Police for 30 years, said he has been pouring over the evidence in the hunt for the missing 19-year-old. He believes there were too many “inconsistencies” in the mystery of his disappearance and called for detectives to look more closely at the days before he vanished.

My colleague Amy-Clare Martin has the full story:

[1 July 2024 10:09 · Athena Stavrou]

Mystery British men of ‘no relevance’ to investigation

Spanish police have declared that the two British men who put up missing British teenager Jay Slater the night before he disappeared are of “no relevance” to the investigation.

The 19-year-old vanished nearly two weeks ago near Buenavista del Norte, Tenerife, after travelling there with two men he had met at a festival around 27 miles further south on the island.

Cipriano Martin, head of the Civil Guard’s Greim mountain rescue unit, said: “Those men have been spoken to and they don’t have any relevance whatsoever for the case.”