A glimmer of hope is in sight for the distraught family of missing British teenager Jay Slater, as hunters and dogs prepare to flood the Tenerife “maze” search area.
The start of the partridge hunting season will see more people visiting the region – potentially increasing the chances of spotting the 19-year-old.
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Jay – an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire – disappeared without a trace on June 17, triggering a massive search operation.
A local woman believes some light could soon be shed on the mystery, with the start of hunting season approaching.
She said Sky News: “There will be different people in the area and greater chances of finding you.”
The season starts at the beginning of August, but hunters are already in the Teno Rural Park area to train.
Rescuers tried to find Jay using sniffer dogs, drones, a helicopter, dozens of volunteers and mountain rescue experts.
But after they were unsuccessful, the official search was called off on June 30, when his heartbroken family promised to continue the hunt.
A team led by local hiker Juan Garcia, and including Jay’s uncle Glen Duncan, father Warren Slater and older brother Zak, focused on a canyon area near where his phone was last located.
Volunteers, including a local hiking group, have been searching the Teno Rural Park – an area of steep rocky slopes, caves and ravines since the official operation ended.
Professional climber and TikToker Paul Arnott has been helping search for the teenager and recording video clips documenting his progress.
The 29-year-old from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, was seen on the road accessing places even the police couldn’t get to.
Jay was last heard from on the morning of June 17, when he called a friend to say he was “lost in the middle of nowhere.”
He returned to a remote Airbnb with two British men in the northwest of the island in the early hours before leaving that morning.
After missing the bus, he began the 11-hour journey back to his accommodation and disappeared into the rural mountains of the northwest.
Today, a former police officer working on the case said Jay’s disappearance had links to an “established criminal network” in Tenerife.
Mark Williams-Thomas, who has made documentaries about Madeleine McCann and Jimmy Savile, has provided a video update on the case in which he made the bombshell claim.
The former detective said his efforts “opened up an established criminal network with links to drugs, violent crime and robberies.”
He said: “As part of this investigation we have sought to speak to everyone Jay had contact with whilst in Tenerife.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF JAY SLATER
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday 8th July marks three weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, made headlines across the country.
On Sunday, June 16, the three left for one of the events at the Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday the 17th – Lucy and Brad were ready to go back to the hotel, but Jay wanted to continue the party.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two Brits.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days, it was thought that the second mystery man was called ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday, former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is investigating in Tenerife, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We still don’t know the identity of the second man – who remains a key part of the puzzle of Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he took Jay and his friend back to the dorm and said everyone went to sleep.
In the morning, he offered to take the teenager back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims that she received a panicked call from him shortly after he left the holiday, saying that he was lost and thirsty, that his phone was about to die, and that he had been cut off by a cactus. .
Jay had been seen by the Airbnb owner that morning wandering near the Teno Rural park – a nearby mountainous region.
He is believed to have attempted the 11-hour walk back to his hotel, despite the supposed offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last rang – and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas said he left Airbnb quickly and was “scared.”
Strangely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from Jay’s unidentified friend, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus.”
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “located” the two men at the Airbnb after he disappeared – interrogating them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports suggest that Lucy knew both men, although it is unclear how.
She dubbed his disappearance “strange and suspicious.”
The two men were questioned by Spanish police officers on June 17, but were quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and allowed to fly back to the UK.
Police spent nearly two weeks searching for Jay in the mountains of Tenerife, searching a 2,000-foot ravine, before calling it off on Sunday, June 30.
Jay’s family has repeatedly criticized the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teenager’s devastated father Warren Slater says ‘everything stinks’
He told The Sun: “My starting position, I said this from day one, ask the two men who took him – and then go from there.”
A number of unanswered questions remain, about why Jay would have traveled so far with two older men he did not know, why these men would have taken him in, and why he braved the mountains of Tenerife without a phone battery, water or protection. thermal. for a full day hike.
“The result of this excavation opened up an established criminal network with links to drugs, violent crime and theft.
“At this stage I cannot expand further on what we know now.
“I can’t say if this network has anything to do with Jay’s disappearance, but we are keeping an open mind as we continue to investigate.”
It turns out that the identity of “Johnny Vegas”, one of the mystery men who last saw missing British teenager Jay Slater, has reportedly been revealed.
Initial reports suggested that convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim and Johnny Vegas were the two new friends Jay made before he disappeared – but they now appear to be one and the same.
The Sun previously revealed that Ayub, 31, booked a £40-a-night holiday under a different surname with an unnamed friend.
Jay, 19, went to the Airbnb – called Case Abuela Tina – in northwest Tenerife at around 5am on June 17, just hours before he disappeared.
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas shared a video on X today claiming Qassim told him the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’ is his.
The former police officer – who worked on the Madeleine McCann case – tracked down Qassim and questioned him about the mystery of Jay’s disappearance.
Mark said: “We know the two men who took Jay back to the rented flat were important people to talk to.
“And as a result, I spoke in some detail with one of these men, Ayub Qassim, known as Johnny Vegas.”
In a major development, the former police officer further revealed: “And I also identified the other man who was with him, but I haven’t spoken to him yet.”
Mark claims his efforts “opened up an established criminal network with links to drugs, violent crime and robberies.”
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
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