‘Entirely possible’ Jay Slater’s family walked yards from his body during agonising 4-week search in Tenerife mountains

JAY Slater’s family could have walked yards from his body during their agonising search in the Tenerife mountains.

Mum Debbie Duncan, 55, was said to be “totally devastated” after searchers discovered her son in a ravine 29 days after he disappeared.

Ian Whittaker

Jay’s ‘totally devastated’ mum Debbie Duncan is demanding answers to why her son was not found sooner[/caption]

A helicopter was used in the search for the body

Jay’s family continued to search the dangerous region

Ian Whittaker

A body was been found in the treacherous Masca mountains, where Jay’s phone last pinged[/caption]

A court on the island today said they have ID’d the body by fingerprints and that Jay, 19, had suffered multiple injuries.

The “worst possible” news comes after mum Debbie, dad Warren, and brother Zak had jetted out to the island last month to find missing Jay.

Jay disappeared in the rugged and steep terrain of northwestern Tenerife and was found just yards from where his cellphone last pinged.

Now a family source has revealed that it is “entirely possible” that the family could have walked right by him as they searched.

The family source said: “It seems incredible so many people walked that area and yet he was so close.

“As we have seen with mountainous terrain and ravines, it does happen — no matter how hard that is to believe.”

They added: “Debbie is completely devastated.

“It’s the news they’ve all been dreading. She has a lot of questions which she hopes will be answered in the coming days.

“It hasn’t completely sunk in yet. The hardest thing for her is to hear he was found so close to the original search site. It’s hard to take.

“It means it’s entirely possible they have walked past his body whilst searching for him.”

Officials say the body recovered was “very deteriorated” and documentation found with it were Jay’s.

A Civil Guard spokesman said Jay’s injuries included several broken bones.

She said: “The body of the man located yesterday has been identified of that as Jay Slater through fingerprint comparison and identification.

“The result of the preliminary autopsy points to the cause of death being a fall or plunge from height due to the broken bones he suffered.”

Doug Seeburg

The teen’s parents now face an agonising wait to find out the official cause of death[/caption]

Official rescue teams spent almost two weeks searching for Jay but called off the search at the end of JunePA

The teenager went missing since June 17PA

A family spokesman told The Sun: “There should be no need for the family to have to perform a formal identification.

“Debbie has said she wants to see him one last time.

“Obviously that’s a personal voice but given he’s been there the best part of a month in those conditions, I’m not sure that’s a memory she will want.”

Arrangements are now being made to repatriate the body to the UK where a second post-mortem is likely to be carried out by a Home Office pathologist.

Jay’s body was spotted on Monday at around 10am by members of the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group – close to where his phone last pinged in an area too steep to access on foot.

The Civil Guard said: “After 29 constant days of searching, the lifeless body of the young man has been found in the Masca area.

“Given the complexity of the case the discovery has been possible thanks to the tireless and discreet search… in which the natural space was preserved.

“The body of the young person was found in a very inaccessible area. The results of the autopsy are awaiting confirmation it is an accident.

“The large-scale operation involving multiple units had been suspended but, as we always said, we never stopped looking for Jay.

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What we know so far…

• A body was found in the gruelling search for missing Jay Slater on Monday after 4 weeks
• The body was discovered just yards away from where Jay’s phone last pinged
• Jay’s family believe the missing teen was killed instantly after a horror fall
• Jay’s best pal Lucy Mae Law pays tribute to the ‘happiest person in the room’
• GoFundMe reveals ‘next steps’ in Jay Slater fundraiser as donations pour in
• Moment Jay Slater cops scour ‘inaccessible mountain’ for clues after body found

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“The mountain rescue group continued looking for the missing man when they were on duty.

“We’ve always said the terrain is very difficult and the search was complicated.”

Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley said it was the worst possible ending for Jay’s loved ones.

The former murder squad cop said the facts showed Jay was in a hostile landscape where someone would struggle to survive.

He added: “He had 1% battery power left on his mobile phone, and he had no water or other drink.

“It was also suggested that he cut himself on a cactus, and all those facts would indicate that this, perhaps, was a man in rugged, unfamiliar terrain, who was clearly going to be getting into difficulties in a short space of time.”

Peter slammed trolls who ignored the facts and said the four weeks of “conspiracy, theorizing nonsense, and claptrap” would finally come to an end.

PA

Posters to help the search were put up all over the island in the days after Jay went missing[/caption]

Jay’s final Snapchat post showed him smoking a cigaretteSnapchat

Ian Whittaker

Jay Slater had been missing on the island of Tenerife since June 17[/caption]