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JAY Slater’s desperate dad has called for help saying he “needs an army” as he carries on the mammoth hunt for his missing son.
Warren Slater vowed he would not stop looking for the 19-year-old after the official search effort drew to a halt.
Ian Whittaker
Jay Slater went missing in Tenerife on June 17
Warren and Jay’s brother Zak, have been hiking through the mountains in Tenerife every day trying to find any sign of Jay – who disappeared on June 17.
The apprentice bricklayer was last seen on walking uphill in the remote village on the northwest of the island.
He had gone back to an Airbnb in the desolate park with two men after a night of partying.
In the morning, he attempted the 11-hour walk back to his own accommodation after missing the bus.
Jay made a frantic final call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost.
Returning to the Valley of Barranco de Juan Lopez, near the village of Masca, where Jay’s phone last pinged, Warren said: “We are still out looking. What more can we possibly do?
“I’ve said before, I need an army to help me. People don’t understand the vastness of it.”
He added: “I’d love to be able to fly a drone and sit here all day scouring the whole area. Why would you go down there? Why leave the road?”
The distraught dad believes someone must have seen his son as he walked up the road from the village of Masca.
“When we came on Monday we must have passed 200 cars going up those hills,” he said.
Jay hasn’t been seen or heard from since June 17 after he left a remote Airbnb in the Masca region by himself.
After a party on the island had finished the apprentice bricklayer went to stay with two British men he had met during the packed NRG festival.
One of the men – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim – says Jay left the house alive.
The missing teen tried to make his way back to his holiday apartment which was an 11-hour walk away – before making a desperate phone call to pal Lucy Law saying he was lost.
One of Jay’s pals is receiving online abuse after he was pictured at a pool party with the teen just days before he vanished
Here Jay is pictured with Lucy Law who is the last known person to have spoken to himA huge search operation was launched using drones, sniffer dogs dogs, a chopper and search teams to comb the treacherous landscape for any sign of Jay.
But on June 30 the official hut was called off leaving the heartbroken family to carry on alone.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF JAY SLATER
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 8 marks three weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew out to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, has made headlines around the country.
On Sunday June 16 the three of them headed off to one of the events at Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday 17 – Lucy and Brad were ready to head back to their hotel, but Jay wanted to keep partying.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two British men.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days it was thought that the second mystery man went by the name ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is out in Tenerife investigating, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We don’t yet know the identity of the second man – who remains a key part of the puzzle in Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he drove Jay and the friend back to their accommodation and said they all went to sleep.
In the morning he offered to drive the teen back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims she had a panicked call from him soon after he left the holiday let, telling her he was lost and thirsty, his phone was about to die and that he’d been cut by a cactus.
Jay had been seen by the owner of the Airbnb that morning wandering around near the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous region close-by.
He is believed to have been attempting the 11-hour trek back to his hotel, despite the alleged offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last pinged – and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he left the Airbnb quickly, and was “scared”.
Bizarrely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from an unnamed friend of Jay, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “tracked down” the two men in the Airbnb after he vanished – quizzing them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports have suggested Lucy knew the two men, although it is not clear how.
She has dubbed his disappearance “weird and suspicious”.
Both men were questioned by Spanish cops on June 17 but quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and cleared to fly back to the UK.
Police spent almost two weeks searching for Jay in the Tenerife mountains, scouring a 2,000ft ravine, before calling it off on Sunday June 30.
Jay’s family have repeatedly slammed the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teen’s devastated dad, Warren Slater, says “everything stinks”
He told The Sun: “My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him – and then start from there.”
A number of unanswered questions remain, over why Jay would have travelled so far with two older men he didn’t know, why said men would have taken him in, and why he braved the Tenerife mountains with no phone battery, water or heat protection for a day-long walk.
Warren Slater, 58, vowed today he would not stop scouring the vast Masca ravine in northwest Tenerife for his son.
He blasted conspiracy theorists and told them to search on the ground themselves before jumping to conclusions.
Warren was seen out searching the unforgiving landscape with son Zak, 21, today, both were clutching water bottles.
Warren’s legs were noticeably scratched as he trekked along a bumpy path in shorts.
Jay’s mum Debbie is also searching for him and has been out in Tenerife for more than 20 days.
She slammed cruel online trolls for their twisted jibes, conspiracy theories and jokes.
Jay’s pal has also fallen victim to online abuse after he was pictured at a pool party with the missing teen just days before he vanished.
Brandon Hodgson is getting death threats after a “hate campaign” was launched on social media, his mum revealed today.
She likened his treatment to the false rumours which surrounded Nicola Bulley’s family after she vanished while walking her spaniel last year.
The photograph also features Lucy Mae Law, the last friend to hear from Jay.
It has led to speculation over why – unlike Lucy and Brad also 19 – Brandon has not spoken publicly about how Jay came to be separated from his friends, who all returned to the UK at the weekend.
Speaking at the family home in Brierfield, Lancashire, Brandon’s mother Natalie insisted the teenager was helping Spanish police.
But she said he had no plans to break his silence and address speculation from amateur sleuths on social media following his return home.
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any person named in this article.
The official search for Jay has been called off but his family have vowed not to give up – here Warren and his other son Zak scour the landscape
PA
Reuters
Ian Whittaker
English (US)