Yahoo News Family of missing Jay Slater being helped by mountain climber as mystery deepens
The family of missing Jay Slater is being aided in their search by a mountaineering mayor.
Shane Yerrell, the 40-year-old mayor of Waltham Abbey spent two days scouring the region where the 19 year old was last seen, with Warren, Jay's grief-stricken dad, his older brother Zak, and other close ones.
Now he is providing continued support to the family, which includes Jay's distraught mum Debbie, while organising another trip to continue the search on the island.
When discussing the agonising situation, Shane shared: "They're just living on hope. It's awful - they've got no answers. They don't know whether Jay is alive or dead."
When asked if the family still clings to the hope that the apprentice bricklayer is still alive, Shane added: "Of course. I would be exactly the same. Until you know for sure."
Shane flew more than 2,000 miles from his home in Essex to Tenerife after reaching out to the Slater family with his offer of assistance, which they accepted gratefully. He has a history of aiding families in distress and has raised almost £200,000 to assist those in need since 2011, and this is yet another testament to his charitable efforts, reports the Mirror.
Revealing his conversation with the family, he said: "I told the family, 'I've climbed a couple of mountains, I'm no mountain expert by any means, but I've climbed Kilimanjaro and Mount Olympus, so I've done it and I'd like to come and help. We spent the whole day Saturday scaling the mountain and then the same thing again on Monday on a different route.
"They are doing everything to find him. They're not just out for an hour, they're out all day 9.30am until 6pm. We covered miles, but there's still a lot of ground to cover. "
Shane also added: "I feel for all of them, his dad in particular. I'm a parent and my child is only a few years younger than Jay. The whole thing is heartbreaking not having any answers. They just don't know."
Shane painted a picture of the harsh circumstances Jay's friends and family must face in their search for him, expressing: "It's really not easy. I struggled on the mountain and so did his family, but it didn't bother them because their priority is powering through to find Jay.
"The altitude and the heat makes it really difficult and the mountain is massive. You go over one edge and then there's another bit. It's unbelievable out there. It would take weeks or months to cover."
Criticism of the family, who hail from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, from social media trolls, has left Shane angered. He exclaimed: "People should put themselves in their shoes before they criticise them and come up with all these ludicrous fabrications. I could see the toll it's taking on Jay's dad mentally. It's horrible.
"They need to give the family a break. They are a good family, nice decent human beings, and they are desperate to find Jay. I would say to people 'please think before you write or say something and focus on something positive or don't say or write anything at all' because the family do read it and it's being passed back to them and it's really not nice. Imagine the heartache they're going through not knowing if Jay is alive or not and then you read people slaughtering you online."
After returning to the UK in the early hours of Tuesday morning, Shane continues to offer his support to the family from afar. His comments come as Spanish police confirm that they are actively following several leads in the search for Jay, who has been missing since June 17 after he was last seen at a rave at Papagayo nightclub on the island.
Shane remarked: "The police have been good, but I think it would be helpful for the family to have a police family liaison officer because they haven't got that at the moment and I think that would help them. I would also like to get mountain experts out there to help and I know that's something they're looking at."
He went on to say: "Debbie sent me a lovely text yesterday saying thank you for your help, we really appreciate you joining the search. She's devastated. No mother would want to find their son like that. I hope that Jay is still alive. Never say never. Nobody knows and that's why they're continuing to search. They will keep searching 100 per cent until they get some news."
