New childhood photos emerge of Jay Slater grinning after winning first football match age 7 & at airport for summer hols

NEW photos of a young Jay Slater have emerged showing the missing teen as a happy and family-orientated child.

One of the sweet snaps shows a grinning seven-year-old Jay in a full football kit with his hair reaching down to his shoulders after winning his first match.

Not known, clear with picture desk

A seven-year-old Jay after a football match with a beaming grin on his face[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture desk

Jay waiting at an airport with his family for a summer holiday[/caption]

Not known, clear with picture desk

The missing teen posing with his older brother Zak at a family event a few years ago[/caption]

Ian Whittaker

A huge search operation has started today to try and find the missing teen after he vanished in Tenerife almost two weeks ago[/caption]

A second picture shows a young Jay playing on his phone as he waits at an airport to go on holiday with his family.

The loving photos of the Lancashire teen were shared by his older brother Zak Slater on social media.

Zak, 24, has been in Tenerife looking for his little brother since he vanished almost two weeks ago.

He has pleaded with Jay to “come home safe” after the mysterious disappearance continues to leave investigators puzzled.

A third picture, taken a few years after his long-hair stage, shows Jay and Zak smiling together at home surrounded by family and friends.

The Slater’s are a close-knit family with many of Jay’s loved ones rushing over to Tenerife to help hunt for the missing Brit.

His mum, Debbie Duncan, has been at the heart of the search trying to assist Spanish cops as much as possible and draw global attention to the case.

The school finance officer, 55, said she’s “barely slept” since Jay vanished without a trace.

The teen’s dad also spoke to the press last week, breaking down in tears as he described being in “a living hell”.

Warren, 58, told The Sun: “I just want him to be found. I just want my son back, end of. 

“What more is there, it’s been a week now, a week of nothing. So somebody somewhere must’ve found out something. Somebody.

“It is a living hell, unless you’re going through it, you cannot explain.

“Please, please please, if anybody knows anything just come forward and help us.”

After 13 days of struggling to track down Jay, cops launched a “massive” new search today.

Specialist volunteers have been deployed across the holiday island amid a final push to find the teen.

Alongside the helpers, the Civil Guard confirmed plans to retrace his last known steps, beginning at the village of Masca.

In a statement, police said: “The massive search will be carried out on Saturday, 29 June from 9am.

“Bearing in mind that this is an abrupt, rocky area, full of unevenness and with a multitude of ravines, paths and roads, the collaboration of all those associations of volunteers who can help in this raid that is intended to be carried out in a directed and coordinated manner is requested.”

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It comes as…

• Deluge of tip-offs flooding in for Jay appeal
• Search for Jay hones in on series of caves
• GoFundMe page for his family hits £40,000
• Crews fear he won’t be found alive if he vanished in mountains
• Tenerife worst place to go missing, expert warned before Jay went missing
• Jay was attacked by gang when he was just 12
• New pics of Jay emerge at a pool party two days before he vanished
• Cops quiz locals who ‘saw Jay watching Euros’
• Investigator reveals descriptions of two men who partied with teen
• Crews scour exact spot where mystery ‘grainy figure’ was seen
• Cops investigate new lead after ‘theft of Rolex’ hours before teen vanished 

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Several police vehicles from the Guardia Civil mountain division, Bomberos and AEA arrived at the top of the mountains this morning alongside a huge number of volunteers.

Army reservist Juan Garcia, who has mountain search and rescue experience, said he felt compelled to help after reading Jay’s story in the local news.

Juan, 53, who came with his dog described the area as “difficult” and like a “labyrinth”.

It comes as cops are still investigating a number of other leads.

A fresh probe has reportedly been launched after the theft of a Rolex hours before the teen vanished.

A fight is said to have broke out outside the Papagayo Beach Club, where Jay seen partying on June 17, shortly after it closed.

An Eastern European man involved in the scuffle allegedly had his pricey Rolex watch stolen, according to the Daily Mail.

It is unclear exactly how Jay’s disappearance might be linked to the incident – but officers are reportedly examining CCTV footage from the security cameras.

The teens last location after his phone pinged is also being retraced as part of the mammoth search.

Several witness have also claimed to have seen a man who looks like Jay around Tenerife.

Ofelia Medina Hernadez told cops she spotted him standing at a bus stop shortly after 8am as he asked her the time of the next service to Los Cristianos.

Ofelia said she saw Jay walking along the road “normally but a bit quickly” some 15 minutes later.

Locals then told police they saw Jay in the town watching the Euros football after he vanished.

Ian Whittaker

Jay with his brother Zak (Right) and dad Warren (left) at Zak’s 21st birthday[/caption]

Tim Stewart

Jay with Zak and mum Debbie Duncan smiling together in a picture[/caption]

Reuters

Cops have been using dogs, drones and helicopters to search the mountains where Jay’s phone was last used[/caption]

Two mystery men who partied with Jay the night before he vanished have also been allowed to return to the UK after a light police probe.

Private investigator Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed the men are “key witnesses” after the trio stayed at an Airbnb cottage together.

Despite his new involvement in the case Mark is not part of the official police investigation but has released a description of the men.

The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, just outside Blackburn, vanished after a night out at the NRG festival at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on June 17.

He was last seen travelling with two men he had just met to an Airbnb in the north of the island in the Rural de Teno park.

The morning after he made a final frantic phone call to pal Lucy Law to tell her he was stranded in the “middle of nowhere”.

Panicked Jay, facing an 11-hour walk back to their hotel, told her he needed water and only had one per cent of battery left on his phone.

His other friend Brad Hargreaves revealed a second call in which Jay told him he had veered off the main path – leading to speculation he may have slid down rocks.

Brad said he could hear the missing teen slipping on rocks during a final video call.

The disappearance sparked a desperate round-the-clock search with his heartbroken mum and family jetting out to the island to join the hunt.

Rescue crews focused their efforts around the 2,000ft Masca ravine close to Jay’s last known location – the desolate Teno Nature Reserve.

On Thursday, they shifted their focus to caves near Los Carrizales – around an hour and a half on foot from the Airbnb Jay went to with the two men.

Police sources say it would be “very unlikely Jay has survived” if he got lost in the mountains.

Apprentice bricklayer Jay had flown out to Tenerife with friends Lucy and Brad for the New Rave Generation (NRG) festival, which ended on Sunday.

His final Snapchat picture was an out-of-focus image of a hand holding cigarettes in Buenavista del Norte, which sits within Rural de Teno park, at around 7.30am on Monday.

It was taken at the location he went to with the two men he met at the club – with haunting pictures showing the inside of the Airbnb.

His last known location was the Teno Rural Park on the northwest of the island – a popular hiking spot for tourists.

It is claimed he was spotted “walking alone” by locals before his disappearance.

Jay was sharing the room at a three-star apartment complex with pal Brad, and police, who promised to keep an “open mind” about his disappearance, scanned his accommodation for clues.

Last week, Lancashire cops offered to fly out and help with the search, but Spanish authorities refused.

Debbie slammed the Tenerife investigation for not accepting their offer, and said she spent eight hours in a local police station looking at their plans to find him.

She expressed fears something “untoward” had happened to her son.

Within hours of arriving in Tenerife, Debbie was sent a Snapchat message which convinced her he might have been abducted.

It read: “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”

A GoFundMe page for Jay was set up by his pal Lucy Law last week and has already gained over £40,000 in donations.

Distraught Debbie, 55, said she is starting to withdraw the cash to help search teams scour the island and to pay for hotels and travel for his family.

She wrote on the page: “I wanted to share that these funds will be used to support the mountain rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay.

“Additionally, since our stay in Tenerife needs to be extended, we will also use the funds to cover accommodation and food expenses.

“I’m surrounded by wonderful people who are by my side, but far from their loved ones, so we’ll also be using part of these funds to fly them to Tenerife so we can support each other during these dark times.”

Debbie was previously forced to defend the fundraiser after online trolls questioned what the donations would be used for.

Ian Whittaker

Zak and Warren have been out in Tenerife trying to find Jay after pleading for him to come home[/caption]

Jay’s best friend Brad is ‘not coping’ with his disappearance after saying he heard Jay ‘slip’Eroteme

Ian Whittaker

Jay was seen partying at a club in Tenerife before his disappearance[/caption]

Ian Whittaker

Missing person posters have been put up in Tenerife[/caption]