Ex-Met Police officer shares update from own investigation into Jay Slater’s case

Police may now be a sparse presence in the ravines where Jay Slater went missing.

But hunters are starting to gather ahead of partridge hunting season, which kicks off in August.

It’s possible that, with extra eyes and dogs in tow, their presence may help uncover what’s happened to the missing 19-year-old.

One woman tending to onions in the tiny village of Los Carrizales, near Jay’s last known location, told Sky News: ‘There will be different people in the area and a better chance of finding him.’

Jay Slater’s dad Warren has spoken out of his ‘disappointment’ of the search operation in the mountainous region in Tenerife.

Spanish police ended the 12 day-search last weekend, without any clues as to what happened to the teenager.

His father has since returned to the Spanish island where his son disappeared almost three weeks ago in the hope of solving the case himself.

Warren told the Sun: ‘I was quite disappointed last Saturday when they did the search, they said the whole island was going to turn out. 

‘Let all the big boys do it, the police told me the big, big search was Saturday. 

‘We got down in that valley at 2pm and there wasn’t a soul. 

‘They might have been there I don’t know, they might have been there before me. 

‘But I was quite disappointed because I expected every fire engine, ambulance… to be looking for him.’

A former Metropolitan Police officer has continued his investigation into the disappearance of Jay Slater in Tenerife.

The 19-year-old vanished on June 17 after leaving an Airbnb, in the village of Masca, where he had stayed the night before with two men who he did not know well.

He was last heard of while attempting to walk to his accommodation in the town of Los Christianos.

Mark Williams-Thomas, a former police officer who flew to the island to help the family of the apprentice bricklayer, has now confirmed that he spoke to one of the men, Ayub Qassim, who police have dismissed as a person of interest in the case.

The former detective said: ‘In the last 24 hours I have spoken in detail with Ayub Qassim, who is also known as Jonny Vegas.

‘He told me he was on the (Veronicas) Strip in Playa de las Americas and said that Jay wanted to carry on partying and that he hadn’t anywhere to stay, so he (Qassim) invited him back to his rental.

‘In the car they played music all the way, they stopped once to get a can of fizzy drink, and there was three of them in the car, Jay in the back and Qassim’s friend in the front.’

He continued to explain that once they were at the Airbnb, Jay was given a blanket, phone charger and towel if he wanted to shower.

Williams-Thomas added that Qassim told him he then went to sleep and was awoken by the sound of the door buzzing.

He added: ‘Qassim opened the door and spoke to a woman and man and they told him to move his car, which he did and he said he could see Jay chatting to a woman.’

When he came back from moving the car, he reportedly saw Jay putting his trainers on.

He allegedly told Qassim that the woman had said there is a bus ‘every 10 minutes’.

The detective said that Qassim told him that he promised Jay to drive him home after he gets a few hours of sleep, but the teenager decided to leave anyway as he was hungry.

‘Jay said he had been told by the woman the bus to Los Cristianos was every 10 minutes and Qassim said there was no bus and added “Do what you like” before going to sleep,’ he added.

Jay Slater’s mother Debbie has shared an update on the continued efforts to find the missing teenager in Tenerife.

In a post on the GoFundMe page yesterday, she confirmed that the search is continuing with the help a ‘wonderful group of locals’.

The parent said that while the volunteers do not wish to receive financial help for their search, the family will be supporting them with supplies.

Debbie said: ‘We have been overwhelmed by the kindness and support we have received and would like to thank the local hiking group for all of their help planning the routes to find our Jay.

‘We have been contacted by a wonderful group of locals who have volunteered to continue the search.

‘While they don’t wish to accept financial help for their search, we will be supporting them with supplies and are so grateful for their willingness to help.’

The family has also been contacted by ‘experienced groups’ offering to support the search in Tenerife.

‘We are busy talking to them about what they can do to assist. But in order for us to employ their help, they need to have permission from the Spanish authorities,’ Debbie said.

‘We will be sure to keep you all updated on our progress and are so grateful for your continued support to bring our boy home. Please keep sharing and supporting our fundraiser however you can.’

Glen Duncan, Jay’s uncle, spent Saturday searching the Barranco de Juan López ravine in the scorching heat.

He told reporters it was ‘torture’ not knowing what happened to the teen.

‘Jay’s parents have got to cling on to hope. I´m sure Madeleine McCann’s parents are still hoping that she’s somewhere on the other side of the world,’ he told reporters.

But he said he does not think his nephew is in the area where his phone last pinged.

‘I think he’s not up here. I think he was afraid of something,’ Mr Duncan said.

Callum Fahim is a TikTok influencer who spent two weeks in Tenerife in a bid to help fund Jay Slater.

Fahim was one of countless volunteers joining officials to search the area around Masca, a mountainous village near a nature reserve, for Jay.

But Fahim has told The Independent that he ultimately decided to fly back home to London because he no longer felt safe on the island.

‘Things weren’t adding up for me. I didn’t feel safe out there but I felt like I had a duty of care to be there,’ he told the newspaper.

‘I didn’t want to fail until we found him. Hearing the heartbreak from his mum, hand on heart, I wish them nothing but success. I returned home for safety reasons but I didn’t want to give up because I felt her pain.

‘I want it to be known I’m not a bad person I have a heart. I genuinely do care but I’m receiving horrific messages from people threatening to kill me. People said they are going to find me and break my back.’

Among them, Fahim said he received ed a message on social media before returning to London saying: ‘Be careful people are going to find you at the airport take extra care. He said he would love to get hold of you.’

A video seen by The Independent showed a man waiting at the airport for Fahim to touch ground.

‘If he doesn’t come out in the next five minutes, the police are everywhere now so I might have to disappear,’ the man says in the footage.

Rachel Hargreaves, a family friend, has helped run the Facebook page Jay Slater Missing which now has more than 611,000 members.

She often posts updates on behalf of Jay’s family. In her most recent post yesterday evening, she said: ‘Debbie and family would like to thank the local hiking group who have worked tirelessly planning routes and searching for Jay.

‘They are extremely overwhelmed with the kindness of them all, thank you.’

Trolls have found a new target: Brad Hargreaves, one of the friends Jay went to Tenerife with for a music festival.

Social media users have been accusing Brad of somehow being involved in the June 17 disappearance of his friend.

But responding to just some of the endless comments on Instagram, Brad dismissed baseless conspiracy theories that the pair were ‘drug mules’.

‘Thinkin’ I’m involved in it all is beyond me,’ he said. ‘We’ve been mates for years, came on our first holiday together and unfortunately this has happened.

‘We ain’t drug mules or whatever…. peple [sic] need to know the facts before talking s*** on the internet…’

The GoFundMe for the family of missing teenager Jay Slater has passed £50,000 donations more than two weeks since he vanished in Tenerife.

The 19-year-old’s friend Lucy Mae Law set up the fundraiser when Jay, from Lancashire, disappeared after leaving an Airbnb near Masca, in the Spanish island’s mountainous northwest.

He had travelled there by car with Ayub Qassim and another man following a rave in Playa de las Américas in the early hours of June 17.

Jay left the property sometime that morning, asking the holiday let’s owner for bus times before walking in the opposite direction into the mountains, where calls with friends suggest he left the road and got lost. He hasn’t been seen since.

Spanish police have said the family can use their own search and rescue teams to search for the missing 19-year-old.

The Guardia Civil confirmed external teams can be used ‘without any problem’.

Jay’s family would just have to notify them ‘for good management of information and resources’.

However, they are not yet thought to have received a request.

The missing teen’s devastated mum Debbie Duncan responded to online trolls after a row over the GoFundMe money escalated.

She made a passionate post on the official Facebook page for the searc.

Here is the full post Ms Duncan made on the Jay Slater search Facebook page.

She wrote: ‘It seems through no fault of my own you have all decided to make up your own minds.

‘It is really sad I have felt the need to do this. My beautiful son Jay is still missing and believe me this is no holiday. He came on his first holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG music event.

‘We as a family are truly devastated.

‘For those of you who are more concerned around the GoFundMe page I can assure you that up to now it has not been used and our stay up to now has been financed by ourselves.

‘I do have proof of transactions and transfers to other persons but I should not have to justify this. So you can make up your own minds.

‘I feel the need to post this to your group and then I shall remove myself. I joined this group to share the positivity and love from the British public. It seems through no fault of my own you have all decided to make up your own minds. It is really sad I have felt the need to do this. My beautiful son Jay is still missing and believe me this is no holiday.

‘He came on his first holiday to Tenerife to attend the NRG music event. What mystery surrounding his disappearance may never surface. We as a family are truly devastated. I did not ask for publicity from the start and was not aware that the first missing poster had my telephone number on it.

‘It should have had the SOS Guardia Civil but like I say this was out of my control.

‘Whatever decision you have in your minds I cannot control this either. We are a normal working family from Lancashire going through hell. I would like to thank the genuine people for their love and support at this difficult time and to continue to pray for Jay to be found.’

Ms Duncan was asked about the GoFundMe row on Sky News after TikTok sleuth Callum Fahim claimed his essentials were not paid for during the search.

She told the broadcaster they wanted to save the funds to pay for specialist search and rescue teams that could cost thousands of pounds.

She added: ‘We appreciate every single person who’s come out. He’s a hiker. We don’t need hikers, we need experts.’

It comes after a since edited text on the GoFundMe page named Mr Fahim as one of the people whose essentials would be paid for from the donations, which was later removed.

Jay Slater’s friend Lucy Mae Law, who was the last person to speak to the teenager before he went missing in Tenerife, shared a selfie of her and Jay.

The missing apprentice bricklayer left an Airbnb near the village of Masca on the morning of Monday, June 17, after coming back from a festival.

Now the worried pal has posted a new picture with Jay on her Instagram account.

The picture shows Lucy Mae and Jay sitting shoulder to shoulder with a crying face emoji and a blue heart.

Lucy was the last person to speak to Jay shortly after he posted a picture on Snapchat on June 17 before starting to make his way back to his apartment in the town of Los Cristianos – a 10-hour journey on foot.

At 8.50am, Jay made a final call to his friend Lucy Mae Law, saying he had missed his bus and that he was ‘in the middle of mountains’ with ‘nothing around.’

Then his phone cut off.

Lucy Mae contacted the British Embassy, while the police in Tenerife were alerted around 15 minutes after the last phone call.

Only hours later his friends began circulating a description of Jay and what he was wearing before they began searching for him the next day.

The row between online sleuth Callum Fahim and the missing teenager’s family continues after he claimed he did not receive a penny.

In a TikTok video posted on his account he insisted he has not received any money from the GoFundMe while searching for Jay who disappeared in Tenerife on June 17.

Callum claimed he paid for his ‘own bus tickets’ to go to the search site in Masca, Tenerife, every day, MailOnline reports.

He told his followers: ‘I can confirm that non (sic) of my essentials and non (sic) of my group’s essentials have been paid. However she did contribute towards a hotel and flight.’

The GoFundMe statement, which has since been edited said previously: ‘We are currently looking after Paul Arnett, putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him.’

But the statement initially said ‘Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials’ before it was edited.

The family refuted Callum’s claims in a Facebook statement posted by a friend of Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan.

It said: ‘Hi sorry again people but this is just not how this should be but I need to put this out there.

‘We have someone claiming to not have had any support from Debbie and are now talking about the family at a time like this making all the speculations worse on social media.

‘It’s not fair why are people adding more stress to this devastating situation no one knows how bad this affecting everyone it’s cruel.

‘I just wanna share this now because it’s not true and it’s not fair

‘Go Fund wasn’t paid it was paid through Debbie herself but he agreed for this to be added the go fund to show people who have kindly donated where and what the funds was being used on.

‘So this is just the evidence on that £740 was sent directly to them accommodation is essential and is classed as that.. we asked also and thanked them and we still thank you for all your help.

‘Please share and to the people who are being so kind we don’t have a update the investigation is still on going.’

Troy Coleman, 17, was last seen in Mt Morris Township, a suburb of Flint, Michigan, USA, on May 21, according to his father who believed he had boarded a bus.

Police are believed to have been investigating his disappearance as a possible murder, but it seems he has now reappeared in a Twitch stream 1,200 miles away in Miami, Florida.

A young man bearing a resemblance to Coleman popped up looking dazed and wearing green shorts as he spoke to a group of young men dining at a table outside a restaurant.

The was shared by streamer FaZe Lacy on Wednesday after he was contacted by someone claiming to be Coleman’s brother.

According to the missing teen’s father, Coleman – who suffers from hallucinations and requires medication – is unarmed and poses no danger, the New York Post reported.

In a further update, Mr Lacy claimed Coleman had ‘been found and placed in a holding cell’ until he can be re-united with his family.

His reappearance alive after so many weeks may offer hope to the family of Jay Slater, who hasn’t been seen for more than two weeks.

TikTok sleuth Callum Fahim, who has been volunteering in the search for Jay Slater, is pulling out after two weeks.

He told Sky News that he is leaving Tenerife after not receiving a penny from his family.

The teenager’s mother Debbie Duncan said she and her family will remain on the Spanish island and will use part of the almost £50,000 raised through the GoFundMe to support volunteers.

In a statement on the fundraiser, she said: ‘We are currently looking after Paul Arnett, putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him.’

Metro.co.uk can confirm that the statement initially said that the money will be used to support ‘Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.’ But it has since been edited.

But he insisted that he has not received – or been offered – any money from Jay’s family.

He added: ‘If they had offered it, personally I would’ve said maybe a bit of a treat at the end of the week, but don’t worry about it.’

Police found a baby ‘locked in ‘abandoned in a hot car’ with its seven-year-old sister in Los Cristianos, Tenerife on June 17.

A local woman had become concerned when she was approached by the older child, who claimed her father was at a hairdresser.

Officers have handed the children over to their mother, and they have identified their father.

That was the same day as Jay Slater went missing more than two weeks ago. Police have still found neither of them. There is no indication the cases are linked.

You can read the full story here.

Beaches and cliffs lie at the very bottom of each of the five ravines scoured by rescue teams during a two-week search operation.

The blue expanse of the sea is visible from viewing points the top, near the road Jay was walking on before stepping onto the gravely ground beside it.

Asked if that’s where Jay might have been going, beyond 6ft cactuses to the water, Warren Slater said ‘maybe’.

He told Manchester Evening News: ‘I’ve done this trail now twice. Every step I’ve took there’s been an opening. If you land on one of those cactus’ you’re not moving. Surely somebody’s gonna find you after two weeks.’

A private investigator believes Spanish police ended their search for the missing 19-year-old too early.

This is because the teenager ‘could be alive somewhere’, army reservist Juan García.

He told The Times: ‘Someone can drink from rainwater and eat plants. The family should not give up hope.’

García added: ‘Two weeks is too premature to end the search.’

Jay Slater’s dad Warren, 58, has said he is ‘baffled’ by his son’s disappearance, as he continues his own search on Tenerife.

After spending hours hiking through the ravine where the missing teenager’s phone last pinged just over two weeks ago, he said: ‘You don’t just disappear.

‘It’s just ridiculous that somebody can just disappear. He’s a young boy, he’s fit. He’s fitter than us all put together.

‘He’s played football all his life, he’s fit as a flea. You just don’t disappear. I don’t know… it’s just a mystery… it’s baffling.’

One of the last people to see Jay Slater before he vanished has spoken out.

Ayub Qassim, 31, invited Jay back to his rented holiday cottage after a rave in Tenerife hours before he disappeared last month.

Speaking to MailOnline today, he said: ‘The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive.

‘I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him.

‘I know Jay, through friends, I’m not going to bring someone back to mine if I don’t know them.

‘I’m doing the geezer a favour and now my face is all over the news. It’s a bit mental. I haven’t even done anything.’