Jay Slater friend says two men who last saw missing teen 'weren't random'

A friend of Jay Slater has warned the two men who last saw the missing 19-year-old were not "random". Journalist Isla Traquair, who spoke to Jay's best friend Bradley Hargreaves, revealed that the men had befriended Jay and his pals three days before the 19-year-old went missing.

The apprentice bricklayer, 19, had been partying at the NRG festival before heading with the pair to a remote holiday let, north of the island, in the early hours of Monday, June 17. The two mystery men were labelled as 'key witnesses' by a British investigator helping Jay's family in the search, but have now been deemed 'irrelevant' by Spanish police.

At around 8am on the morning Jay went missing, he left the rental home and rang his friend Lucy Mae Law, who he travelled with to the Canary Islands, to tell her that he was walking back to their accommodation after missing the bus. During his journey, which would have taken him 11 hours on foot through rough terrain, Jay, from Lancashire, seemingly disappeared.

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She explained: "It wasn't two random people he'd met that night. They'd established a friendship and Brad said they seemed like really cool guys." Traquair added that Jay returned to the Airbnb with the men because he "was just not ready for his night to end. However, he did communicate to his friends, via phone calls or texts, saying 'oh, these guys have just gone to bed, maybe I'll just come back.'

She said: “They seemed startled and surprised that I had found them, and I asked them where Jay was. They said he had gone out to try and look for cigarettes and then come back and said he was leaving to try and get a bus back into town.

"They just seemed shocked that I had managed to find them and I know the police have spoken to them but I’ve since found out they have left the country. They need to be spoken to properly.”