Jay Slater missing: Friend fears missing teen may have been 'kidnapped' in Tenerife

A close friend of missing British tourist Jay Slater fears the teenager may have been kidnapped.

Lucy Mae, who previously described her friend's disappearance as 'suspicious', believes someone gave Tenerife police a 'false lead' and so the Civil Guard has focused its search on tourist resorts in the south from the island. It is more than 30 miles from where the search team initially assembled, in the mountainous area of ​​Rural de Teno.

Lucy Mae, who traveled to Tenerife with Jay to attend a three-day rave, said: “Someone gave the police a false lead saying they had called a taxi to Los Cristianos.

“If that was the case he would have called his mother or one of us. I know him well and he wouldn't want us to worry. Someone is trying to talk the police out of stopping him from coming up there .I'm starting to think he was kidnapped.”

Los Cristianos is one of the many towns in the south of the island popular with holidaymakers, particularly British ones. It appears that authorities have launched new searches in and around Los Cristianos. There was no immediate response from the Civil Guard to Lucy Mae's new concerns.

But when asked if she thought the “false lead” was the reason for the change, the teenager replied: “Yes, it's really serious.” Jay's mother Debbie flew to the Canary Islands today with her eldest son and is said to be “in pieces” over the situation, which Lucy Mae previously described as “suspicious”.

Jay's loved ones have begged people to stop donating to fake fundraisers as they have received sickening phone calls from cruel trolls. Family members also pleaded with strangers to “stop speculating” about the tourist’s disappearance.

However, a friend confirmed Jay planned to walk back to his accommodation in Tenerife after missing a bus on Monday morning – a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot. His phone said he was last in the national park, and Lucy Mae says he was there the last time she spoke to him on his cell – but the phone went off during their conversation Monday.

And police then knocked on the door of his family home in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, telling his relatives to get on the first flight to the Canary Islands. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office said: “We are supporting the family of a British man missing in Spain and are in contact with local authorities.”