Support truly
independent journalism
Jay Slater’s family have been spotted searching a town in Tenerife as they retrace the missing teenager’s final movements, despite the local mayor insisting “he wasn’t here”.
The 19-year-old’s father Warren Slater, 58, and brother Zak Slater, 23, were seen scanning the small, mountain village of Santiago del Teide on Monday, as the hunt on the Spanish island entered its fourth week.
The official search has now been called off, with Warren Slater criticising local police and residents alike for not doing more to help his son, an apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire.
On Saturday, Warren, Zak and Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, took part in an eight-hour search in a remote valley in the north of Tenerife, where Jay’s phone last pinged on 17 June.
The teenager was at the NRG festival in Plata de las Americas on 16 June before going to an AirBnB in the village of Masca with two men. He left the following morning and appeared to start an 11-hour walk back to his apartment in the tourist area of Los Cristianos.
The last official sighting of him was by a cafe owner whose brother owns the cottage where his two new acquaintances were staying.
She said Jay asked her about bus times before he decided not to wait for two hours for a service. She last saw him walking out of the village while she was in her car. The teenager’s final recorded location on his phone was at 8.50am in the Rural de Teno National Park.
Manchester Evening News reported Warren and Zak were pictured on Monday combing through Santiago del Teide, which is on the outskirts of the park, as the pair widened the boundaries of their search.
A grainy CCTV image of someone who was thought to have potentially been Jay was captured in this town earlier in the search.
However, the town’s mayor, Emilio Navaro, previously said he did not believe the CCTV image was from Santiago del Tiede.
Speaking to MailOnline after Saturday’s search, Warren also spoke of his frustration with the local police, who called off the search operation after emergency workers found nothing in the last search near Masca on Saturday, 29 June.
However, Tenerife’s Guardia Civil said it was following “several lines of investigation” last week. The police have also said it will allow search and rescue teams to operate on the island.
Jay’s family along with volunteers have continued the search and there’s also been support from TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas. More than £50,000 has also been raised through a GoFundMe to support the family in its efforts.
Speaking to MailOnline, Warren said: “We’re going round and round in circles. The Spanish police, you can’t go screaming and shouting at them because they don’t do anything. If you start screaming and shouting they won’t do anything even more.”
Jay’s uncle, Glen Duncan, has also criticised the police. Speaking to The Sun, he said: “I don’t know if they’re following up every single lead. I feel like marching down there myself and bursting into the police station.”
He added: “We’re still holding onto hope – we have to because we don’t know.”
