Jay Slater's mum issues devastating new statement in Tenerife

The mum of Jay Slater has issued a statement following the disappearance of her 19-year-old son, who was last seen leaving a property called Casa Abuela Tina, at around 8am on June 17. Mr Slater had been at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife, before leaving the event with two British men.

The AirBnB he stayed in is more then 20 miles and 11 hours' walk from the Los Cristianos apartment where he was holidaying with friends, Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19. He posted a picture of himself holding a cigarette outside the holiday rental's main door early on Monday morning.

The Airbnb owner later claimed she saw him On Monday the Airbnb owner said she saw him walking uphill into the mountains alone. Then, around 8.30am, Jay called Lucy to say he was trying to get home with no water and 1% on his phone battery. No-one has heard from him since. For the latest Welsh news delivered to your inbox sign up to our newsletter

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Police have called off a ground search for Jay after finding no trace of him. His worried family, including mum Debbie, dad Warren, and older brother Zak are in Tenerife. Debbie Duncan issued a statement this evening (July 2), through the British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global, saying: "My son, Jay Dean Slater, came to the holiday island of Tenerife on the 13th of June with his friend to attend a music festival. On the 17th of June after not returning to his apartment he was reported as a missing person. Jay is a normal guy who is in his 3rd year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.

"We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing. He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him.

"We do not have any information on his whereabouts. The Guardia Civil have worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay's last phone call was traced. They conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available. Although the land search ended, the Spanish police still continue with their investigations into why Jay had travelled to the location so far away "We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of enquiries. We would like to say to the press/news/reporters, that although we do not want to lose the momentum of Jay's disappearance, we really would like to maintain our privacy and crucially let the Spanish police get on with their investigations without hindrance from press.

"We are aware of the conspiracy theories and speculation on social media and some websites, and can only describe this as vile, the negative comments are extremely distressing to our family. We also embrace the love and support we have received from across the globe. It has not gone unnoticed, especially his home town in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.

"As a family we would like the world to respect our privacy at this present time." Join our WhatsApp news community here for the latest breaking news