Detective Jay Slater Shares Important Update on 'Viral Video of Missing Teen'

A British detective leading the investigation into Jay Slater has slammed a “shocking video” that is going viral online and appears to be of the missing teenager.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing in Tenerife since June 17 after staying in an Airbnb in the rural village of Masca with two Britons and disappearing as he was returning to his accommodation 11am away in Los Cristianos.

A large search operation, involving helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs, was deployed in the Masca mountains and attracted considerable media attention, but police called off the search on June 30 after two weeks.

Detective Constable Mark Williams-Thomas, who travelled to Tenerife to help find Jay, has now spoken out following rumours that a “distressing” video circulating online shows the missing teenager, the Mirror reports.

The TV detective said: “A lot of people are contacting us about a shocking video that is circulating. The video was first posted on a social media site nine years ago and therefore cannot be of Jay Slater.”

The case follows the former police officer's investigation into an alleged 'stolen Rolex'. He discovered that Jay had shared a video on Snapchat in which he boasted about stealing a £12,000 Rolex, just hours before he disappeared.

Mr Williams-Thomas explained: “En route, Jay posted a Snapchat message saying they had stolen a £12,000 Rolex from someone. We were unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft. However, Jay’s friends did not want to make this up and the watch was the subject of a subsequent conversation between them.”

He also claimed Jay was scared when he left the holiday rental where he was last seen, adding that the teenager could not return to the property, despite it being the “most reasonable course of action”.

The detective said: “We received information which suggested that Jay left the rental property in fear and would not return to the rental property, even though that would have been the most reasonable course of action, and also where he could have charged his phone and obtained water.”

The detective, however, ruled out the possibility that Jay had been kidnapped, although his mother Debbie had previously said she believed that was what had happened to him. He added: “We have no evidence at this stage to suggest that a third party criminal was involved in Jay's disappearance.”

“There are, however, a number of outstanding actions and we therefore remain open to the possibility of a change. The evidence strongly supports that Jay wandered off and walked for at least 30 minutes on a track before he had his last contact with friends, with a very precise location of 8.50am.

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

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