Yahoo News Jay Slater's pals claim missing teen 'stole £12k Rolex' before he vanished
The mystery surrounding Jay Slater's disappearance continues as it's emerged the missing teenager allegedly told friends on Snapchat he'd stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch the night before he vanished.
The whereabouts of the 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, remain unknown 17 days on from vanishing in the Rural de Teno park in Tenerife. The apprentice bricklayer was holidaying with mates on the Spanish island when he went back to an AirBnb with two men they met on the trip.
He then tried to make the long walk back. As reported by the Mirror, questions were raised over claims a man complained he had had a Rolex stolen on one of the island's bar strips on the night of Sunday, June 16.
READ MORE: Jay Slater's 'baffled' dad asks why 'two grown' men took missing teen boy 'to a B&B'
It wasn't initially clear whether this was connected to Jay's disappearance. Now, top Brit detective Mark Williams-Thomas appears to have confirmed the connection after revealing previously unreported details about Jay's movements before disappearing.
The sleuth, known for his work on the Nicola Bulley case last year, travelled last week to Tenerife to help Jay's family find some answers. He has since reported back his preliminary findings to mum Debbie Duncan, taking to X on Wednesday (July 3) to provide a few more details in a bid to urge people against "filling the void" with harmful and hurtful speculation.
Mark said: "We know that shortly before 6am on Monday the seventh of June, Jay left the area of Veronica Strip in [Playa de] Las Americas in a Seat Leon hire car with two males casually known to him. Jay and a number of his friends had spent time with them both over the previous two days.
"All three males including Jay travelled north by the main motorway, the TF1, to go to the two males' holiday rental, Casa de Abuela Tina, which was about an hour's drive away. On route, Jay posted a Snapchat saying he had stolen a £12,000 Rolex from a person.
"We've been unable to validate this in terms of reporting. However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject to later conversation between the friends."
Detailing the teenager's last movements, Mr Williams-Thomas claimed: "The evidence is that Jay walked off on the rental, walked for about 30 minutes, and then sent his location at 8.49am and 8.50am. And we know that he was at that stage off the road on a track with loose stones."
He added: "I want to make an appeal for landowners in the area of the rural park to check any outbuildings and land that they have in the hope that further searches will continue by volunteers in the area not yet searched."
Mr Williams-Thomas said he had 'spoken to a significant number of witnesses, both here in the UK and in Tenerife, including Jay's friends who are fully engaged with us'. Jay's family, including his mum Debbie Duncan, dad Warren Slater and older brother Zak, remain in Tenerife as they continue to search for answers into his disappearance.
In a statement released through LBT Global, a British charity specialising in overseas missing person's cases, Debbie shared the family's profound distress: "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."
She continued: "Jay is a normal guy who is in his third year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends. 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 from his accommodation. We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of inquiries."
After nearly two weeks of searching for the teenager in vast and mountainous terrain, police called off the ground search for him. On June 30, they announced that officers would continue to act on any tip-offs or other information that came in but the active work that has been ongoing since the apprentice bricklayer was reported missing would cease.
