JAY Slater’s family was hopeful when police called on Monday morning only to be met with the parents’ worst “nightmare”, ex-Madeleine McCann says the police officer.
Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been working closely with the family in Tenerife, says Jay’s devastated family will still have questions afterwards police found a body near the search area.
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The family have vowed to stay in Tenerife until they find answers about Jay’s disappearance – with dad Warren, 58, still hopeful the teenager is still alive.
But Spanish police announced on Monday morning that they had recovered a body using a helicopter in the area where Jay was last in Masca.
The Civil Guard said “everything points” to Jay’s body as they fear he may have accidentally fallen to his death.
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, and the rest of the Slater family reportedly received the tragic news shortly after 10am.
Former investigator Mark has now revealed how he thinks the family may have reacted to the shocking discovery.
What they learned was every parent’s nightmare, human remains were found and they fit Jay’s description, his clothes and personal belongings were found with him
Mark Williams-Thomas
He wrote in Mirror: “It was late Monday morning and Jay’s parents were asked to attend the police station for an update, they attended expecting a positive update.
“What they learned was every parent’s nightmare, human remains were found and they fit Jay’s description, his clothes and personal belongings were found with him.
“To worsen the devastation News What’s more, he was found in a rather inaccessible place, not far from where Jay had sent his location to two friends just before 9am.
The family now faces an agonizing wait to find out exactly how the teenager could have died.
An autopsy is scheduled to formally identify the body, but results are not expected for several days, police officials say.
THE DISAPPEARANCE OF JAY SLATER – A TRAGIC TIMELINE
The grim discovery of a body comes after weeks of agony for Jay’s friends and family. Here’s how events unfolded:
Sunday, June 16th: Jay and his friends party on the last day of the NRG music festival, held at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de la Americas, Tenerife.
June 17th, from 3am to 6am: Jay leaves with Ayub Qassim and another man to a £40-a-night Airbnb 23 miles away in the village of Masca.
7:30 am: Jay shares a photo on Snapchat standing in the doorway of the Airbnb.
8:50 am: He calls his friend Lucy Mae Law and says he is “lost in the middle of nowhere,” with no water, a cut on his leg and a percent on the phone.
Tuesday, June 18: Friend search area, but no sign of Jay. Local police and mountain rescue teams begin official searches. Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flies to Tenerife.
June 19th to 20th: The Spanish police use drones, dogs and a helicopter, but find no traces. The search continues to Los Cristianos amid a possible sighting, but it is ruled out and they return to Rural de Teno, near Masca.
June 21th: Lancashire Police offers support, but it is refused.
June 22: Mom Debbie makes an emotional plea to Jay, saying “We just need you home.”
June 24th: Jay is alleged to have been sighted in Santiago del Teide – close to where he disappeared – and the family believe a grainy CCTV image could be of him.
June 25th: Debbie asks her son to return home while more friends travel and TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas joins the search.
June 29: The police remove Mr. Qassim and another man from the Airbnb from the investigation.
June 30: Spanish police officially suspend the hunt, but say the investigation “remains open”. His family continues the search.
July 15: A body is found by the helicopter search team near where his phone last rang. Their belongings are discovered alongside human remains. Spanish police say this points to an “accidental fall”.
A family source also told The Sun: “Debbie is completely devastated.
“It’s the news everyone feared. She has many questions that she hopes will be answered in the coming days.
“It hasn’t been completely absorbed yet. The hardest thing for her is knowing that it was found so close to the original search site. It’s hard to accept.”
Jay’s father Warren, older brother Zak and uncle Glen were scouring the mountains for any trace of the teenager.
Along with volunteers and specialist mountain refuge teams, they spent four weeks searching for Jay.
Cops have decided not to say where they found the body yet, but Mark claims it was around 20 minutes since the Brit’s phone last rang.
This has led to questions about how every day of searching failed to take note of the rugged terrain in which the body was found, the family source told the Sun.
Debbie is completely devastated. It’s the news everyone was afraid of. She has many questions that she hopes will be answered in the coming days
familiar font
The body was recovered in a “dangerous” location where any wrong step would have been fatal, Mark added.
Dramatic images released by Tenerife’s Guardia Civil show rescuers using a helicopter to reach an “inaccessible” ravine.
Authorities coordinated with rescue experts from the Civil Guard who can be seen in the video searching the mountainous region of Masca.
Rescuers can be seen cutting through bushes and climbing the sides of massive mountains as part of their hunt.
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A spokesman for Lancashire Police said they had been notified by the Civil Guard that a body had been found – and that “indications are that this is Jay Slater“.
They added: “Although at this stage no formal identification has been made, our thoughts are with Jay’s family at this time and we continue to offer them our support.”
Jay was first reported missing the morning after his trip to the unforgiving mountainous area of Tenerife in the early hours of June 17.
He went to stay in an Airbnb with two men after a night of partying.
He then left in the morning and attempted to make the 11-hour walk back to his accommodation after missing the bus.
One of the men – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim – says Jay left the house alive.
Jay made one last frantic call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost, had one percent battery left on his phone and needed water.
In an earlier call to his friend Brad, his feet could be heard slipping on the rocks.
Mark also claims to have spoken to Qassim and was told that the teenager woke up asking to leave the house because he was hungry.
Qassim, who rented the vacation rental, says Jay wanted to go home to “do some research” and was planning to catch a bus.
Mark says Qassim told him “no buses are coming” and offered to take him after taking a nap, but the teenager left anyway.
Mark has since claimed that Jay left in a panic and was “scared” to return to the Airbnb.
Tenerife is known as a dangerous place at night, with the holiday hotspot caught in a bitter turf war between British drug gangs and the feared Italian mafia.
Despite this, there is no suggestion that Jay was linked to drugs, and police found no connection to criminality in the case.
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This story originally appeared on The-sun.com read the full story
