Jay Slater's loved ones slam 'horrible lies' and set record straight as search continues

As the hunt for missing teenager Jay Slater continues, his loved ones are being subjected to a barrage of online abuse, adding to their distress..

The 19 year old from Lancashire has been missing since June 17 after he disappeared in the mountains of north west Tenerife. He had stayed at an Airbnb rental and was last seen 'walking off alone' in a remote part of the Island, before contacting his friend to say that he was in need of water and his phone battery was low.

The search operation to find Jay has involved members of the Civil Guard, fire crews and mountain rescue teams scouring the vast and 'treacherous' Rural de Teno Park. Jay's friends and family have also travelled to the island to assist in the search. Meanwhile, Jay's mum Debbie Duncan admitted she had "barely slept" and is "at her wit's end with worry".

READ MORE: Missing Jay Slater among 11 others to vanish in Tenerife this year

Despite the heartache surrounding Jay's disappearance, the apprentice bricklayer's friends and family have also had to contend with numerous false allegations on social media. These range from claims they were 'partying on boats' to false reports that Jay's body had been found, reports the Manchester Evening News.

Rachel Harg, the mother of Jay's best friend and admin of the Find Jay Slater Facebook group, has spoken out about the impact of the trolling. She took to social media to condemn another fake post, revealing it had left her "absolutely heartbroken."

Rachel was incensed by a video circulating online, which wrongly suggested she was partying on a boat instead of searching for the missing teen. She clarified in her response: "This is another horrible lie about myself firstly this isn't me ! ! I took the video on my last holiday on a boat trip the lady in this video I don't know it was just me videoing the trip I was on with my family."

"Secondly this was when I went to Turkey in April this clip someone stole it and saying am in Tenerife partying.I am here looking for my sons best friend not partying if anyone did see this ! ! ! ! ! ! " She ended her message with a poignant note, "Absolutely heartbroken. It was a previous holiday," accompanied by a broken heart emoji.

Jay's mum Debbie also spoke to the Daily Mail, expressing her trust in the Spanish authorities: "The Spanish police are doing a good job and we are getting updated from the consulate so we just put our faith in them. I know people in the UK have come forward as well who were at the festival and they are giving details of what they know but I'm not being told about that. Jay's very good friends from home have also been over and have put up posters. They are good kids and like me just want him home."

Jessica, a 19 year old engineer and one of Jay's friends involved in the search effort, expressed her frustration with "online detectives" who were spreading harmful rumours. As Jay's ex-girlfriend, she implored people to stop the damaging speculation, saying she was fed up with the baseless gossip and the pain it was causing.

Despite claims otherwise and the unfortunate online trolling, the hunt to locate Jay Slater remains ongoing with the arrival of expert sniffer dogs to assist in the exhaustive search to trace Jay's final recognised trajectory, hopefully leading to the missing teenager. It was confirmed by Tenerife police on Tuesday that a number of search dogs from Madrid would be joining the second week of rescue efforts.

The team commented: "The Civil Guard continues with the search device for the young British man who disappeared in the Masca neighbourhood, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife), in which different units of the Civil Guard participate. In addition, today several Canine Guides of the Civil Guard dispatched from Madrid with their canine agents specialised in the search for people on large areas of land, belonging to the Cynological Service of the Civil Guard."