The devastated father of missing teenager Jay Slater says the investigation "stinks" and asks why two men who drove him to a remote AirBnB were ruled out of any involvement.
Warren Slater described the ongoing search for his son as "like a riddle" to which he can't find the answer. He was part of a 10-strong volunteer team that combed through the treacherous terrain of Tenerife at the weekend, where the 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle is thought to have disappeared.
Photos of their search efforts have now been shared. The volunteers endured hours under the scorching 25C sun as they traversed the Valley of Barranco de Juan Lopez, near the hamlet of Masca.
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Reflecting on the challenging landscape, Mr Slater remarked: "It's the fourth time I've done this. It was hard, I nearly put my eye out."
He expressed the family's exasperation with the ongoing investigation, telling the Mirror: "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."
His comments come after Jay's mum revealed 'a wonderful group of locals' have volunteered to help find her missing son. In a new update, Debbie Duncan also said 'experienced groups' have contacted the family to support the search for Jay.
The apprentice bricklayer has now been missing in Tenerife for three weeks after vanishing following a music festival on the island. He 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. Jay 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.
Mr Slater said the family couldn’t understand why the police had ruled the two men out so quickly. He said: “My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him. 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.”
Mr Slater 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."
