A mayor in Tenerife has said the case of missing teenager Jay Slater "does not make sense", adding "he is not here".
Local mayor Emilio Navarro said in response to a possible CCTV sighting of Jay that he doesn't believe the 19-year-old is in Santiago del Teide, Tenerife. The grainy image is understood to have been captured Jay in the area at around 6pm on Monday night – ten hours after he was last spotted in the village of Masca, nearly four miles uphill.
It comes after Jay's mum Debbie Duncan, 55, previously claimed a witness told police they believe they saw Jay in the village of Santiago with two men on Monday night. Speaking from his office in the Town Hall, Mr Navarro alleged there has been "no police" in Santiago del Teide, despite the sighting.
Mayor Navarro told the Independent: “The Guardia Civil sent us an email asking for our security cameras. We could not give it to them as they are organised through a separate company, so the police are speaking to them. But that CCTV picture is not from us and I do not recognise that place - I do not think it is in Santiago del Tiede and he is not here.
“We will help the police but it makes no sense. We have had family and journalists here but we have seen no police.”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, stayed at a remote Airbnb in Masca, a village in the north west of the island which is nestled in vast mountainous terrain having gone there with two men after an NRG music event. He was last seen by the owner of the Airbnb who saw him walk away after asking what time the next bus leaves for the south of Tenerife where he was based with friends.
But a grainy CCTV image shows someone that the family believe looks similar to Jay walking through the local church square in Santiago del Teide at 6pm last Monday which they are showing to people in the village along with posters of the missing teen to see if they can jog people's memories.
Jay's mum Debbie said of the possible sighting in Santiago del Teide: “Someone has come forward to say they saw someone who they thought was Jay walking back down the road sat on a bench. He was with two men looking a bit worse for wear, and they were by a church, this guy has come forward and told the police about it and they are looking into it.
"We don't know if it was Jay for sure, but it's a start. They said it was about 6pm which is ten hours after he was seen by the lady in the village. But if it was him what was he doing there and who are these two men?”.