Jay Slater’s dad pleads ‘someone must know something’ one week after son’s disappearance & urges police to widen search
JAY Slater’s distraught dad Warren said his family are in “a living hell” a week into the search for the missing teenager in Tenerife.
He broke down in tears as he appealed for the safe return of Jay in Santiago del Teide, the last site where the 19-year-old is thought to have been seen.
Warren, 55, told The Sun: “I just want him to be found. I just want my son back, end of.
“What more is there, it’s been a week now, a week of nothing. So somebody somewhere must’ve found out something. Somebody.
“It is a living hell, unless you’re going through it, you cannot explain.
“Please, please please, if anybody knows anything just come forward and help us.”
Jay, from Lancashire, has been missing for a week now with search crews failing to find any trace of him so far despite the case gaining global attention.
Drones, sniffer dogs and helicopters have all been involved in the mammoth mission, with the operation now focused on three main areas near where Jay was last known to be.
Jay made a final call to Lucy last Monday morning to tell her he was lost in the middle of nowhere, his phone was about to die and he needed water.
He had been to a rave the night before with pals Lucy and Brad, but left the club with two men he had met that night.
The teen went back to their Airbnb in an unforgiving mountainous area near the village of Masca.
After leaving their accommodation, Jay missed the bus home on Monday morning and was faced with a tough 10-hour walk.
He has not been seen or heard from since – and dad Warren wants cops to widen the search as he believes Jay is not in the mountainous area where police are focussing their search.
Warren added: “I don’t know if anything undertoward has happened to Jay. One minute he was here, next minute he’s disappeared.
“I don’t believe he’s still in that mountain. The police have put every effort into finding him. It’s bleak and barren.
“The authorities have done everything they can in the search, everybody is up there looking for him.”
Warren has been putting up missing person posters in the village of Santiago del Teide.
The tearful dad has also been sharing a grainy CCTV image he believes could be his son.
It shows a mystery figure walking past a church in Santiago del Teide last Monday at around 6pm – hours after Jay was reported missing.
The village is around 7km from the Masca village Jay vanished from one week ago.
Police are yet to confirm whether as a potential sighting – but Jay’s family are praying it is.
Jay’s mum said a man had come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men in the same area.
A source close to the family told the Mail: “It looks like him and is certainly a man’s shape but we just don’t know.
“It was taken near the church where a witness says he saw him so we have to keep hoping.”
Meanwhile, Jay’s heartbroken mum has slammed trolls questioning what the £33,000 GoFundMe donations will be used for.
A GoFundMe page set up by close pal Lucy Law surpassed its £30,000 goal within days – but some have questioned what the money will be used for.
Debbie said: “I am really am saddened by all your comments. You seem to be so bothered about this GoFundMe page.
“I really hope I am not taking my son home in a body bag.
“I really cannot believe the British public are not supporting me in trying to find Jay. This may happen to any of you one day. Very let down by you all.”
Debbie also pleaded with the public to let the cops handle the situation rather than getting involved online.
But Lucy, the pal Jay frantically phoned last Monday, has hit out at Spanish police in recent days claiming not enough is being done.
She called on British officers to get involved in the hunt after it was revealed Lancashire Police’s offer to help Jay was last week rejected by local cops.
Civil Guard officers on the island told their British counterparts they had the “resources” required.
It led to backlash from Jay’s family and friends who wanted cops to swoop in from the UK to join the hunt.
Now police in Tenerife have warned they will not be sidetracked by criticism as they insisted they are “totally focused” on the search.
Tenerife’s force has yet to make any official comment about the Lancashire Police claims and insisted today it had no intention of doing so at this stage.
A well-placed source said: “The Civil Guard is not going to reply to criticism or praise it receives here.
“Officers are just doing their job, they’re focused on the search and they’re going to continue with the work they’re doing without anyone taking time out to respond to the evaluations other people are making.
“The force is aware of some of the comments that are already out there but are prioritising what needs to be done which is to search for Jay.
“Just imagine how much chatter there’d be if we did publicly respond.”
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “nothing untoward there”
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire cops offer to help with the search but Tenerife authorities say they are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”
Search turns to 22,000ft ravine in Masca – part of an area dubbed “the badlands” by locals
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins with sniffer dogs, cops, mountain rescue and firefighters again taking to the hills in northern Tenerife
Possible new sighting of Jay places him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although unconfirmed by police
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Cops focus their search around small outbuildings in de Teno park near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
The GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy surpasses £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay appearing to fall and stumble back up at a rave before he vanished
MONDAY 24
Search for Jay enters eighth day