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JAY Slater’s dad has blasted conspiracy theorists and told them to search on the ground themselves before jumping to conclusions.
Warren, 58, vowed today he would not stop scouring the vast Masca ravine in northwest Tenerife for his 19-year-old son.
Ian Whittaker
Ian Whittaker
Ian Whittaker
ReutersApprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, vanished more than three weeks ago in the mountainous remote village.
Spanish cops combed the area for almost two weeks before abruptly ditching the hunt – leaving Jay’s family “blindsided”.
They have vowed to continue the search themselves, however, with the help of a small group of volunteers.
Jay’s frustrated dad has called on the Army for help and said they have had no update from cops.
He was seen out combing the unforgiving today with son Zak, 21, today clutching water bottles.
Warren’s legs were noticeably scratched as he trekked along a bumpy path in shorts.
He said: “We are not going to stop
“We are still out looking. What more can we possibly do?
“I’ve said before, I need an army to help me.
Jay’s final Snapchat pic revealed he was all smiles before disappearing
Tim Stewart
“People don’t understand the vastness of it.”
“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
“When we came on Monday we must have passed 200 cars going up those hills.”
Amateur sleuths have taken it upon themselves to crack the case – including thousands of armchairs detectives.
Sat behind their computer and phone screens, they have been peddling vile theories and wild claims.
Warren hit out at trolls, and said: “Stop, and put your boots on if you want to come out and help. Then write it up.”
Investigators yesterday told The Sun Jay could be alive in another part of Tenerife.
A police source on the island said the case is “very much open” with “all scenarios being kept in mind”.
Cops also confirmed Jay has not been deemed “missing feared dead” yet.
Speaking about the theory Jay is alive in a different part of Tenerife, Warren said: “I hope it’s true”.
But the devastated dad said it if were the case, Jay “surely would’ve made contact by now”.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF JAY SLATER
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 8 marked 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.
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