Father of missing Jay Slater says he 'just wants the boy back'

The father of missing British teenager Jay Slater said: “I just want the boy back” as he visited the remote Tenerife spot where his son went missing on Monday.

Speaking for the first time since the 19-year-old's disappearance, Warren Slater spoke just one sentence through sobs of tears as the search for Jay entered its sixth day.

He spoke to the Telegraph after visiting the remote location in the north of the Spanish island where Jay disappeared on Monday morning.

Joined by his other son, Zak, and eight of Jay's friends, Mr Slater visited an Airbnb cottage near the village of Masca that his son had visited after attending a music festival with friends.

“I’m just exhausted.”

Earlier, Jay's mother, Debbie Duncan, told the Telegraph: “I'm just exhausted. »

“I haven’t slept in five days,” Ms. Duncan said.

“I still have hope. I don't feel negative yet.

“I don't know how it went today because I was advised to stay away because I would collapse.

“My boy might be up there somewhere.”

“We are all devastated. He's just a normal boy from a small town in Lancashire. These things don't happen.

Speaking to PA, Ms Duncan said she did not know whether Spanish authorities had refused an offer of help from the UK because they considered it “an insult”.

Lancashire Police said they had made “an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they required additional resources”, which was rejected by Spanish authorities.

“I think they said they had enough resources and didn't need help from the English police,” Ms Duncan said.

Asked what message she would have for her son, Ms Duncan added: “We just need you at home – we just need him at home.”

TikTok detectives join the search

TikTok detectives flew from Britain to Tenerife to join the search for the teenager.

Jay was last heard from Monday morning when he told a friend he was lost in the mountains and desperately thirsty.

He had previously met two men at a music festival on the Spanish island and followed them to their chalet.

Police and mountain rescue teams are using dogs and drones to scour the barren landscape for the missing teenager, from the town of Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire.