Jay Slater’s family to stay in Tenerife as police call off search

Jay Slater’s family will remain in Tenerife despite Spanish police ending their search for the missing British teenager, The Telegraph understands.

The Guardia Civil called off its search for the 19-year-old from Lancashire on Sunday, almost two weeks after he disappeared while on holiday on June 17.

A spokesman said: “The search for Jay Slater ended yesterday. The case remains open, and any new clues will be investigated.”

It can be revealed that Mr Slater’s family, who have flown out to Tenerife, will continue their search for him. Rachel Hargreaves, a close family friend who has joined them on the island, told The Telegraph: “Nothing has changed. We will continue to search for him.”

Mr Slater had travelled to Tenerife with two friends including Ms Hargreaves’ son, Brad. He went missing on June 17 after he left a music festival in a car with two British men he met that night.

They travelled to Masca, and Mr Slater was last seen walking up a steep road in the early hours of June 17.

After setting off, he rang a friend and said he was lost, thirsty, had one per cent charge left on his phone and had cut his leg on a cactus. His phone ran out of power shortly after the call.

Mr Slater’s phone was last traced to the Rural de Teno national park in the north of the island. For the last 13 days, the Guardia Civil has led a search operation involving helicopters, drones and sniffer dogs, but without success.

Spanish police said the two men last seen with Mr Slater “don’t have any relevance” to the case. The men, believed to be from south-east England, were interviewed by Spanish police after his disappearance but allowed to return to the UK last week.

At a police press conference on Saturday, the head of the Guardia Civil’s Greim mountain rescue unit was asked whether police had spoken to the two men.

Cipriano Martin said: “We’re mountain specialists and we’re in charge of searching here, and it’s the Civil Guard investigators who have been responsible for the investigation. Those men have been spoken to and they don’t have any relevance whatsoever for the case.”

A source close to the investigation said: “The daily operation which has been going on in and around Masca, close to where Jay was last seen, has been brought to an end. If any information comes in that merits a new search, though, it will be acted upon.

“My understanding is Jay’s parents have been informed of what obviously is a major development. Nothing of any relevance was found during yesterday’s large-scale search.”

On Saturday, police asked for volunteers to join a “massive search” for the teenager. It is now clear that search marked a final push to find Mr Slater.

Speaking after just half-a-dozen volunteers arrived to help, including Paul Arnott, a British TikTok creator, Mr Slater’s father criticised the lack of British helpers.

Mr Slater’s family had previously pledged to remain on the island until he was found, and more than £40,000 has been raised through a GoFundMe page to support their living expenses.

Earlier in the search, the Guardia Civil rejected an offer of support from Lancashire Constabulary to help find the missing teenager.

The Lancashire force said it had made “an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources” but was told Spanish police were “satisfied that they have the resources they need”.

The search for Mr Slater had focused on the barren and rugged valleys that surround Masca. Police have combed the area each day of the search, starting from 9am and often not finishing until late in the evening.

Two shacks, just a few hundred metres from where the teenager’s phone last pinged, were scoured repeatedly. The Telegraph visited one of the run-down buildings and found a mattress and women’s clothes inside. But police seemingly believe the properties are not relevant, having not returned to them in the last week.

As the search became more desperate, officers brought in specialist sniffer dogs from Madrid and began to search caves on the coast. Theyseized CCTV from Santiago Del Teide, a town a few miles from Masca, after grainy footage of a figure walking through the town was speculated to be Mr Slater.

There were also reported sightings of him watching the Euro 2024 football tournament in a bar in Puerto de Santiago, another nearby town.

The force’s lack of communication about its search, including with Mr Slater’s father, who said he felt left in the dark by police, meant wild conspiracy theories were allowed to spread online.

Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater’s mother, claimed she had been compared to Karen Matthews, who faked the kidnapping of her daughter Shannon 16 years ago.

Questions have also been asked about a GoFundMe page set up by Lucy Law, a friend of Mr Slater. Ms Duncan said she felt “let down” by the speculation, and the funds would be used for accommodation and food expenses, to fly friends and family from the UK to Tenerife, and to support mountain rescue teams.

Mark Williams-Thomas, a former British police officer turned TV investigator who is working with Mr Slater’s family, has urged them to use the GoFundMe money to pay for further investigations.

He said: “The police have put considerable resources into searching for Jay, and of course it is very disappointing for the family that the search by the police has now ended. I have advised the family to use the GoFundMe money to bring in a large team of experts to flood the area from where we know Jay last was.”