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Over £70,000 has been raised for Jay Slater’s family after his devastated mother pleaded for more money to give him the “send of he deserved”.
The family’s GoFundMe page has received £70,081 from more than 5,600 donations since it was set up the day after the Mr Slater vanished in a remote part of northern Tenerife in July.
The 19-year-old’s body was found on Monday following a gruelling four-week search involving police, mountain rescue teams and volunteers.
On Thursday, his mother Debbie Duncan said: “We are overwhelmed with grief and are so grateful for your support. We want to give our boy the send-off he deserves so please do continue to share and support our fundraiser however you can.”
The apprentice bricklayer was last heard from on Monday 17 June as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot.
He later travelled to an Airbnb in the remote Masca valley with two men, one of them known to be Briton Ayub Qassim, but left their accommodation at around 8am to travel home.
The teenager was last seen by a cafe owner, who said the teenager had asked her about bus times before deciding not to wait two hours for a service.
She then saw him walk out of the village, and his phone was last detected in the Rural de Teno national park, nearby where his body was found weeks later.
A frantic search was launched for Mr Slater after he disappeared, with police, mountain rescue teams and volunteers scouring the mountainous terrain for two weeks.
Despite the official search being called off, his heartbroken family vowed to keep searching for him and criticised local police and residents for not doing more to help their son.
At the time, his mother Debbie Duncan said: “As we approach four weeks of our beautiful Jay’s disappearance, we cannot put into words the heartache we are suffering as a family.
“Jay is a typical young man who loves life with a bright future ahead of him. This month will mark the end of his three year apprenticeship with the world at his feet. He is loved by everyone and has a close bond with his family and many many friends.
“We would also like to say that we are aware of the awful comments and conspiracy theories that are filling social media. These theories are hindering the people trying to help us in their investigations here in Tenerife and are vile to see as a family.”
