Jay Slater’s parents make desperate plea to ‘keep case alive’ after cop meeting…but say they’re no closer to finding him
JAY SLATER’S desperate parents say they are still no closer to finding their son despite a crunch meeting with cops today.
Debbie Duncan and Warren Slater have spent the last two weeks in Tenerife searching for their 19-year-old son as they pleaded with the public to keep the case alive.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing for more than two weeks after vanishing on June 17.
His family were left “blindsided” when authorities on the island abruptly called off the search for the teen on Sunday.
Earlier today, Debbie and Warren spent two and a half hours speaking with cops to get an update on the case.
Afterwards a distraught Debbie told The Sun: “It’s a mystery and he’s still missing, we need to just let these guys (the police) get on with it.”
She continued to urge the public to not forget about their son saying: “Let’s keep it going, keep it alive.
“Let them (the police) get on with it, we’ve got to trust in these people.”
Jay’s parents were briefed by detectives at the Civil Guard’s local headquarters in Playa de Las Americas.
The pair arrived at the police station on the popular holiday island at around 2pm.
Speaking from Tenerife, Warren added they would return to the police station “when they ask us to”.
Earlier, family friend Rachel Hargreaves, the mother of Jay’s best pal Brad, also visited the station with her partner.
Jay’s crushed family are still yet to get any answers on what happened to their son – who has not been seen or heard from since June 17.
Jay’s family, including mum Debbie, who works as a school finance officer, and dad Warren, 58, have vowed to stay in Spain until Jay is found.
Debbie told Good Morning Britain she’s trying to “stay positive” and doesn’t want the case to “lose momentum”.
She added that it was important to keep the world watching as she again blasted conspiracy theorists hampering the investigation.
Attempts to find Jay have often been overshadowed by vile internet trolls and insensitive conspiracy theorists.
The family source from the UK said on Sunday: “Jay’s family can’t help thinking the trolls have won and that they have got the way.
“So many people have been putting horrible messages out there which has only added to the family’s torment.”
Former cop Charlie Hedges spoke to The Sun about the risks of online sleuths and amateur detectives trying to solve the case.
He urged the public not to take it upon themselves to help the search as he noted despite their best intentions they may end up causing more trouble.
But with the official police search called off and no other obvious line of enquiry as to what happened to the apprentice bricklayer, the mystery surrounding his disappearance remains.
It comes as cops spent two hours searching the Airbnb apartment where Jay stayed with two mystery men hours before he vanished.
Two plain-clothed officers wearing blue forensic style shoe coverings were sent to scan the £40-a-night two-bedroom cottage called Casa Abuela Tina for clues.
Investigators said the two mystery Brits Jay partied with at the Airbnb were “not relevant” to their probe.
The officers declined to comment as they left.
When asked about the police activity at the Airbnb, Debbie said: “We don’t know anything about the investigation we’re leaving it to the police.”
On Monday, a Spanish judge revealed there is “no current evidence of criminality” in the case.
Many believed Jay could have been kidnapped or murdered by a criminal gang in the mountains.
But investigating judge Maria Goya, who is being kept informed of developments by police, was told by the Civil Guard that nothing that points to Jay being the victim of a crime.
Police ended their official search for missing Brit teen Jay Slater on Sunday.
The mammoth hunt – involving sniffer dogs, drones, a helicopter, dozens of volunteers and mountain rescue experts – has been brought to an end.
Cops in Tenerife said officers would continue to investigate the case if any major tip-offs or information comes in.
The decision to call off the search left Jay’s parents and family “heartbroken and devastated”, a family source told The Sun.
JAY CLUES
The young Brit vanished after a night out at the NRG festival at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on June 17.
He was last seen travelling with the two mystery men in the north of the island in the Rural de Teno park.
The morning after he made a final frantic phone call to pal Lucy to tell her he was stranded in the “middle of nowhere”.
Panicked Jay, facing an 11-hour walk back to their hotel, told her he needed water and only had one per cent of battery left on his phone.
His other friend Brad Hargreaves revealed a second call in which Jay told him he had veered off the main path – leading to speculation he may have slid down rocks.
Brad said he could hear the missing teen slipping on rocks during a final video call.
Rescue crews focused their efforts around the 2,000ft Masca ravine close to Jay’s last known location – the desolate Teno Nature Reserve.
Last Thursday, they shifted their focus to caves near Los Carrizales – around an hour and a half on foot from the Airbnb Jay went to with the two men.
Jay had flown out to Tenerife with friends Lucy and Brad for the New Rave Generation (NRG) festival, which ended on the Sunday.
His final Snapchat picture was an out-of-focus image of a hand holding cigarettes in Buenavista del Norte, which sits within Rural de Teno park, at around 7.30am.
It was taken at the location he went to with the two men he met at the club – with haunting pictures showing the inside of the Airbnb.
It is claimed he was spotted “walking alone” by locals before his disappearance.
Five questions still unanswered in Jay Slater's disappearance
By James Halpin
Missing Rolex after ‘scuffle’
Police launched a new probe on Saturday morning over the theft of a Rolex watch just hours before Jay disappeared.
It is unclear exactly how Jay’s disappearance might be linked but one of Jay’s pals told detectives the alleged theft may have led to Jay wandering off on his own to try and find the watch.
The Rolex disappeared when a fight broke out at the club Jay was partying at with investigators questioning taxi drivers and bar staff present on the strip.
Police clear duo
Two mystery Brits who partied with Jay Slater on the night of his disappearance were labelled “not relevant” by investigators.
Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas said the men stayed with Jay at an Airbnb cottage in Tenerife before he vanished.
They are said to both be in their late 30s or early 40s and from Luton, Bedfordshire, with one going by the nickname “Johnny Vegas”.
The men were only briefly asked to speak with cops before being allowed to fly home to the UK.
Just six volunteers for ‘massive’ search
Yesterday, Tenerife cops launched what they called a “massive” new search with the help of specialist volunteers to find the 19-year-old Brit.
However, just six volunteers reportedly turned up, claimed Tiktoker Paul Arnott, 29, who flew in to help with the search.
Jay’s father Warren and older brother Zak were seen at the search site.
The area being searched is a 2000ft ravine that has a steep hiking trail traversing it down to the sea.
Mystery final phone calls
Jay’s last phone call to his pal Lucy Law has been shrouded in mystery with it springing up several questions.
The 18-year-old woman told reporters Jay had called her in a panic at around 8.30am on Monday June 17.
She recalled him saying he wasn’t able to catch a bus and was going to start walking back to his flat.
Jay told her his phone was almost out of power, that he had cut his leg on a prickly cactus and he badly needed a drink.
Pinging phone
Search teams narrowed their efforts to a small group of buildings close to where Jay’s phone last pinged, but found nothing last week.
Jay took a 45 minutes car journey with two men to an Airbnb near Masco in the Rural de Teno, a national park in the island’s north.
He posted a Snapchat picture at the £40-a-night digs at around 7.30am appearing to show him holding a cigarette and walking down some stone steps.
After deciding to leave the cottage, Jay rang Lucy before his mobile went dead at 8.50am near a hiking trail in the park.