Citizens are urged to search for the outbuildings where the teenager disappeared

Tenerife residents have been urged to search their outbuildings and land in the area of ​​Tenerife where Jay Slater disappeared.

Jay went missing on the morning of June 17 after leaving an Airbnb near the village of Masca in Teno Country Park. The teenager, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had travelled to the location with two British men after leaving a nightclub in Playa de las Americas.

Former British police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is helping Jay Slater's family in Tenerife, claimed Jay Slater was “spooked” when he left an Airbnb and allegedly “took a £12,000 Rolex” before disappearing.

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Mr Williams-Thomas, known for his involvement in high-profile disappearances, said: “We have received information which suggests that Jay left the rental property in fear and would not return to the rental, even though that would have been the most reasonable course of action.”

His comments were captured in a video recorded on July 2 and uploaded to X, formerly known as Twitter, today, the Manchester Evening News reports.

Lucy Law, 18, a friend of Jay's, was the last person known to have spoken to Jay on the phone. She recalled Jay telling her he was “in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home with no water and 1% battery on his phone.”

Mr Williams-Thomas suggested Jay could have returned to the Airbnb to charge his phone and get some water, but apparently decided not to. The former detective also mentioned that Jay had “posted a Snapchat saying he had stolen a £12,000 Rolex from someone”.

“We were unable to validate this information in terms of a reported theft,” he said in the video. “However, Jay's friends said he wouldn't make this up and the watch was the subject of a subsequent conversation between friends.”

He described the teenager's last known activities, saying: “The evidence shows that Jay left in the rental car, walked for about 30 minutes and then sent his location at 8:49 and 8:50. And we know that at that point he was on a path off the road with loose rocks.”

He continued: “I would like to appeal to landowners in the rural park area to check all the outbuildings and land they own in the hope that further searches will continue by volunteers in the area that has not yet been searched.”

Mr Williams-Thomas revealed he had “spoken to a significant number of witnesses, both here in the UK and in Tenerife, including Jay's friends who are fully engaged with us”. As the search continues, Jay's family, including his mother Debbie Duncan, father Warren Slater and older brother Zak, remain in Tenerife, desperate to find out where he is.

Last night, Debbie shared the family's grief in a statement released by LBT Global, a UK charity dedicated to helping families whose loved ones have gone missing abroad. She said: “We are a close-knit family and are absolutely devastated by his loss.”

“Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are going through. He is our beautiful boy, he has his whole life ahead of him and we just want him back.”

Describing her son, she said: “Jay is a normal boy who is in his third year of apprenticeship and he is a very popular young man with a wide circle of friends. We have no information on his whereabouts.”

Debbie also spoke of the huge efforts made to trace Jay: “The Guardia Civil worked tirelessly in the mountains where Jay’s last phone call was traced. They conducted a 12-day search on the ground, using every resource at their disposal.”

She then expressed her gratitude to the Spanish authorities: “Although the search on the ground has been completed, the Spanish police continue their investigations to determine why Jay went to this location so far from his home. We extend our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow up on the leads of the investigation.”

Police have scaled back their search for the teenager. On June 30, they announced that officers would remain vigilant for any new information, but that the intensive field search that began after the apprentice mason's disappearance had been suspended.

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