The devastated dad of missing teen Jay Slater has said the search for his son is "like a riddle" and he doesn’t know the answer.
Warren Slater joined a team of 10 volunteers yesterday to scour the mountainous region in Tenerife, where the 19-year-old went missing.
The group spent several hours, in baking 25C heat, as they searched the Valley of Barranco de Juan Lopez, close to the village of Masca.
READ MORE - Convicted drug dealer was staying at Airbnb where missing teen was last seen
READ MORE - Jay Slater's mum shares new search update on GoFundMe page including major setback
Speaking about the rugged terrain, he said: "It’s the fourth time I’ve done this. It was hard, I nearly put my eye out."
He also voiced the family’s frustration about the investigation. He said: "Tell me where I look, I can only go off the last sighting, the woman in that restaurant saw him going the wrong way. Which human being lets a young boy go the wrong way? Everything stinks. It’s just a riddle and I don’t know the answer."
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, disappeared on the Spanish island on June 17. He was last seen leaving an Airbnb in the north of the island, close to the village of Masca, that morning.
The teenager, who was on holiday with his pals Lucy, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, had previously been partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, before leaving the event with two British men to go back to the rented property.
Warren said they couldn’t understand why the police had ruled the two men out so quickly. "My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men... And then start from there.
"If you and me in England had taken a young girl to the Lake District, do you think they would have let us go back to Spain? We’re going round and round in circles. The Spanish police, you can’t go screaming and shouting at them because they don’t do anything.
"If you start screaming and shouting they won’t do anything even more. If they want to go and search a house they have to go to court first."
He also said he wasn’t impressed with the official search local police organised last weekend. He said: "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.The way they made it out when they said they were going to have the biggest ever search."
Warren said he had timed the walk from the Airbnb to the valley they were searching and it had taken 90 minutes. The road is a busy tourist route with hundreds of visitors arriving each day to take pictures of the stunning scenery. He said: "You’ve walked from that bnb at 9am you’ve walked all the way up here, he’s a young fit lad, all the way. You’re trying to tell me no car, no one’s seen him at half past 10. Why would you go down there? You’ve got to end why go any further? Why would you leave this road? You haven’t got a clue where you are.
"And no one else has seen him, one woman, he’s knocked on her door, she said at 10 and he went the wrong way. This morning I saw her, she didn’t want to stop. It’s somebody’s son, you know if you’re the last person to see someone’s son you try your damndest to help, don’t you?
"If your son was here what would you do? If he was at the top of that rock you’d climb it. You need Columbo. The two guys, why they took him to that bed and breakfast. So when you get home get me a Columbo.
"You start from the last two people don’t you and they’ve just let them walk out."
The Airbnb Jay visited was rented by convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim.
He has said: "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."
Qassim added: "The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive." A search by the Spanish authorities ended last weekend after 14 days.
