Missing Jay Slater's final phone call offers 'crucial lead' in frantic search

The last phone call made by Jay Slater before he vanished has emerged as a crucial 'clue' in the ongoing hunt for the missing lad.

Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, went missing on June 17 while at a music festival in Tenerife's secluded Rural de Teno region. After splitting from his mates on Sunday night to join other festival-goers who had hired a car to an Airbnb, it's thought he attempted a risky 11-hour trek back to his digs in the south after missing the first bus in the morning.

His final call was to his mate, Lucy Mae Law, before his mobile ran out of juice around 8:15am. Lucy, who was with Jay on his maiden trip abroad with pals, revealed he said he was peckish, parched and had nicked his leg on a cactus.

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Civil Guard officers have deemed the information Jay relayed to Lucy pivotal in their search efforts across the rugged mountainous landscape, even though they officially called off their search yesterday following nearly a fortnight, as per the Mirror.

Cipriano Martin, head honcho of the Civil Guard's Greim mountain rescue squad, told journos on Saturday that Jay's cactus injury suggests he "left the main road" and headed into the hills. He pointed out that Jay "obviously" had to cross into the mountainous area - yet despite almost two weeks of scouring, the search teams haven't turned up any solid leads in the challenging terrain, reports Chronicle Live.

The officer detailed: "Masca's been looked at, the Juan Lopez ravine, the Retamar ravine, Las Aneas ravine, Los Carrizales ravine, in all the areas we know he's been in because his mobile phone coverage is undeniable and places him there. But we have a difficulty which is that once the phone goes off the antennas stop picking it up, so that while he's walking, and we don't know how long he was walking for, no phone mast is going to detect it, and as the technicians tell us, they look for mobiles and not people, so we're at that point as well, that we have certain information and we have to go on that."

He also said: "The clues are based on the information we have. Another of the things that leads us to consider that hypothesis is when he rings his friend Lucy and says he's cut himself on a cactus and he's worried because he doesn't know whether it's poisonous or not, and she tells him not to worry that it's not poisonous. But for that to happen you have to leave the road because you're not going to cut yourself on a cactus being on the road and he's had to go into the mountains obviously."

Lucy shared the details of her puzzling conversation with Jay with Sky News. She explained that in a phone call, he expressed being lost and said: "he didn't know where he was," that he "needed a drink" and had "cut his leg on a cactus".

Asserting that her son is no fool, she elaborated, "I can't understand why he would come out of the house and then decide he was going to walk. I think he maybe set off walking with battery and had not realised how far the walk actually is."

Former detective turned TV investigator, Mark Williams-Thomas - famously known for exposing Jimmy Savile - has been diligently working towards creating a more precise "detailed picture" about Jay's last verified location. Mr Williams-Thomas took to social media on Sunday night, once the physical search was suspended by Spanish authorities, to provide an update, saying: "Although the police search in the mountains and around Masca has concluded, the police investigation into Jay Slater's disappearance remains ongoing."

Adding further about his independent inquiry, he stated: "In regard to our investigation we have been able to speak to important witnesses and now have a very detailed picture of Jay's movements over the 16th and 17th, along with important background information. We still have a number of outstanding actions, but have given the family a preliminary breakdown of findings."

Mr Williams-Thomas suggested: "In light of the police search ending, I have suggested the family should use the GoFundMe money to continue the search using experts in searching. I would appeal again, if you have any 'direct information' having spoken to Jay or anyone that was with him overnight 16/17th and have not yet been in contact please do so."

Jay's mother confirmed that the £44,000 raised on the GoFundMe page aimed at finding her son is being used to cover the costs of flying out relatives, accommodating them, and providing for their needs, as they continue their search for the 19-year-old into the third week.