Jay Slater's friend claims two men who stayed with missing teen in Tenerife weren't 'random'

A close friend of missing teenager Jay Slater has revealed that the two men he was last seen with in a remote holiday rental in Tenerife were not unknown to him.

Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished on Monday, June 17, after leaving a music festival by car with the two unidentified men, who are believed to be British. The trio returned to the men's Airbnb located near the rural and "treacherous" Masca village.

Journalist Isla Traquair, who spoke to Jay's best mate Bradley Hargreaves, disclosed that the men had struck up a friendship with Jay and his friends three days before the 19-year-old's mysterious disappearance. According to her, Jay and his mates had met the two men around three days prior to his unexplained absence, and they got along well.

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Traquair clarified: "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."

She added that Jay decided to return 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. 'The identities of the two men remain undisclosed, but it is reported that they flew back to the UK after being briefly questioned by Tenerife police. Officers later informed Sky News that the men were "not relevant" to the search.

Lucy Mae Law, a friend who accompanied Jay and Brad on their trip, recounted how she located the men at their Airbnb using clues from Jay's Snapchat posts She recounted: "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, reports the Mirror.

""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.

"Over two weeks have passed without any trace of 19 year old Jay in Tenerife, leading Spanish police to conclude their official search on Sunday. Jay's family and friends, including Rachel Hargreaves, mother of Brad and a close friend of Jay's mum Debbie Duncan, 55, are distraught over the halted search yet remain determined to continue their own efforts. Rachel stated: "Nothing has changed. We're still going to go out and search.

No one is leaving until we find Jay. We stay, we do what we need to.".

Former British detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been assisting Jay's family in Tenerife with their search, has suggested that the £47,000 raised through GoFundMe should be used to fund a private search. This advice comes after Spanish authorities ceased their search for the missing British teenager.