Jay Slater missing: Mom shares update on GoFundMe as teen 'spotted watching Euros' – latest update

A fundraiser launched to help find Jay Slater has now topped £40,000 as the search for the missing teenager enters its twelfth day.

More than 3,500 people have donated to the GoFundMe page since it was created more than a week ago by the 19-year-old's friend.

On Thursday, Mr. Slater's mother announced that she was withdrawing some of the money raised to fund the search efforts.

Debbie Duncan, 55, vowed they would not give up hope and would return home with him.

Family and friends are trying to keep Mr O'Sullivan's story in the spotlight by launching their own website, raising money and changing their Facebook profile picture to show his missing poster.

Reports from last year tell how Ryan Cooney, then 28, was last seen leaving the apartments of his Paraiso del Sol hotel in Playa de las Americas on November 9, 2023.

The Independent's Holly Evans reports from Tenerife:

Paul Arnott, 29, who runs the TikTok account Down the Rapids, is among those searching for Jay Slater after he went missing last Monday. Since arriving in Tenerife, he has posted 66 videos, each of which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times.

His efforts sparked the interest of the teen's family, who reportedly contacted him and arranged a meeting on Thursday.

“I'm meeting the family today,” he told the Telegraph. “I spoke with Brad's mother, Rachel. They wanted to bring me food but I said no.

“They told me they wanted to meet me. They told me they were really proud of what I was doing.”

The mother of Jay Slater's best friend told the BBC that a deluge of online trolls added to their “living nightmare”.

Rachel Hargreaves, 34, who is in Tenerife with Mr Slater's mother Debbie Duncan, is the mother of Brad, who traveled to the Canary Islands with Mr Slater.

Ms Hargreaves, a chef from Accrington in Lancashire, said one troll even pretended to be her late mother, who died eight months ago.

“My mother's picture is old, but it was on my Facebook and somehow they got their hands on it,” she said.

“We are living the worst nightmare that one can live and it does not help. I am a strong person and this has affected me. Normally, things do not happen to me.

As the desperate search for missing British teenager Jay Slater continues, The Independent's Holly Evans traveled to Tenerife to bring readers the latest on the ongoing investigation.

The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared in Tenerife more than a week ago after trying to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

He had attended the NRG music festival on the island with two friends before his disappearance.

The location where Mr Slater's phone rang last Monday (June 17) is in an area of ​​difficult terrain, with a narrow path and steep slopes in the mountains.

Holly Evans live reports from Tenerife:

Located on Veronica's Strip in Playa de Las Americas, the nightclub where Jay Slater spent his evening before disappearing stands at the end of a long line of busy bars.

The majority of them open until 5am, they are currently flooded with British teenagers celebrating their A-Levels, with cheap drinks and spirits packages available all over the street.

Drugs are readily available, with groups selling Class A drugs, cannabis and balloons along the pavement.

Holly Evans Reports from the scene in Tenerife:

Despite the interest of the British press and tourists, the Spanish seem to know very little about this disappearance. While Jay Slater's photo was plastered on ATMs and bus stops, Spanish police have made very little comment on the case and little is known about the progress of the case. investigation.

As a group of vacationing Brits from Manchester recounted The independent Last night, while checking the Facebook group's daily discussions, residents seemed confused by the press attention.

Adela, who works in a cafe in the tourist area of ​​Los Cristianos, shakes her head and says simply: “People always get lost in the mountains if they're not careful, it just happens.”

Reports from last year recount how Ryan Cooney, aged 28 at the time, was last seen leaving his apartments at the Paraiso del Sol Hotel in Playa de las Americas on November 9, 2023.

Holly Evans of the Independent reports from Tenerife:

Jay Slater's last known movements have been mapped as the desperate search for the missing teenager entered its second week in Tenerife.

Police, sniffer dogs, firefighters and volunteers were among those gathering again on Saturday to continue the manhunt as fears grow for the British teenager.