‘Totally devastated’ mum of Jay Slater demands answers after body is found yards from teen’s last known location

THE grief-stricken mum of missing Brit teen Jay Slater demanded answers last night after a body was found yards from his last known location.

Debbie Duncan was said to be “totally devastated” after searchers discovered remains in a ravine 29 days since Jay, 19, disappeared on Tenerife.

Ian Whittaker

Jay Slater has been missing on the island of Tenerife since last being seen on June 17[/caption]

Ian Whittaker

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

Dramatic images released by Spanish cops showed the moment a helicopter crewman was winched into the ravine with his arms aloft in the delicate recovery operationSolarpix

A family source said: “It’s the news they have been dreading. She has lots of questions.”

Meanwhile, a pal on holiday with Jay Slater when he vanished paid an emotional tribute to his friend yesterday after his body was found.

An account apparently belonging to Brad Hargreaves wrote: “No words. Nothing will be the same without you. Rest easy brother. Love you always.”

His heartfelt online post came as Jay’s body was recovered from a remote ravine in Tenerife.

Dramatic images released by Spanish cops showed the moment a helicopter crewman was winched into the ravine with his arms aloft in the delicate recovery operation.

Mum’s anger

The grim find — which was just metres from 19-year-old Jay’s last known location — sparked anger from his distraught mum.

Debbie Duncan, 55, is demanding answers over how the police search teams missed her son’s corpse.

A family source told The Sun: “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.

“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.”

An account apparently belonging to Brad Hargreaves, above with Jay, wrote: ‘No words. Nothing will be the same without you. Rest easy brother. Love you always’

A statement by the Guardia Civil said “initial evidence” suggested the person found had “suffered an accident or fall in the inaccessible zone”.

They said “all the evidence” suggested the remains found were those of “the young British man who disappeared”. Full identification is yet to be carried out. But the charity LBT Global, which works with families of people missing overseas, said the remains were found with Jay’s clothes and possessions, close to his mobile phone’s last known location.

The apprentice bricklayer, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, vanished on June 17.

He was on holiday with Brad and friend Lucy Law. Jay spent time with two men at a £40-a-night Airbnb in the north of the Canary Island after a music festival. The next morning he called Lucy from near remote Masca village to say he was thirsty and his phone battery was nearly dead.

His mobile went dead at 8.50am near a hiking trail in the Rural de Teno national park — an 11-hour trek from his apartment in the south of the island. Police combed the area for 12 days using a helicopter, drones and dogs.

To the family’s dismay the full search was suspended on June 29. But Jay’s dad Warren, 58, brother Zak, 24, and uncle Glen Duncan, 41, continued to hunt for him.

The body was spotted yesterday 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 Guardia Civil said in a statement: “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.

‘Our beautiful boy’

The body of the young person was found in a very inaccessible area. The results of the autopsy are awaiting confirmation that 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.

“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.”

Jay’s family were last night being supported by British Embassy official. A post-mortem is expected to take place in the next 48 hours.

The shock news yesterday came, hours after Jay’s family had marked four weeks since he disappeared.

In a statement, mum Debbie had said: “We cannot put into words the heartache we are suffering as a family. We are just a normal family desperate to find our beautiful boy.”

A spokesman for the family confirmed the body was found close to the site where Jay’s mobile phone’s had last sent a signal.

He added: “Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes. We are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.” Lancashire Police said its thoughts were with Jay’s family.

Ayub Qassim, 31, was among the last people to be with Jay.

They were seen together outside a nightclub in the early hours before heading to the remote Airbnb. At 7.30am Jay posted a Snapchat picture of himself holding a cigarette outside the holiday let.

He was seen by a local resident in Masca at 8am walking along the road out of the village after stopping to ask for directions.

Spanish police ruled Qassim out of the investigation and allowed him to fly home insisting there was “no evidence of criminality”.

At his home in Barking, East London, Qassim insisted he played no part in Jay’s disappearance.

He said the teen had arrived at the Airbnb alive and left it alive.

Jay’s family were even accused of pocketing more than £50,000 raised via GoFundMe page. Debbie slammed the senseless trolls as vile and said they hindered the hunt.

Jay’s final Snapchat post showed him smoking a cigarette with a blanket given to him by Qassim at the AirbnbSnapchat

The claimed sighting on this grainy CCTV proved to be a false dawn in the hunt for Jay

Pixel8000

Jay left the NRG music festival with two men, including convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, above[/caption]

PA

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