Friend of Jay Slater missing in Tenerife claims teen ‘cut his leg on a cactus’ and ‘needed a drink’ in final phone call
A FRIEND of missing Jay Slater claimed the teen had “cut his leg on a cactus” and “needed a drink” in final phone call.
Lucy Law said the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer “didn’t know where he was” before vanishing in Tenerife on Sunday night.
As reported by Sky News, Lucy said her pal had phoned her and said he “needed a drink” after he “cut his leg on a cactus”.
He sent her a photograph of his location but said he didn’t know where he was.
There’s no ransom demand come in yet but I got a Snapchat about 10 minutes after I got off the plane saying ‘Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.’ which I passed on to police
Debbie Duncan
“It’s very warm in the day and very cold at night,” she told the UK Tonight programme on Sky News.
“So in the day he’s going to be really warm without a drink, and then at night he’s going to be very cold without any suitable clothing.”
A concerned Lucy plastered posters of the 19-year-old everywhere.
She claimed a woman took her into the mountains to help with the search but there was “literally no sign of him anywhere” after driving “all day”.
Lucy looked out for landmarks she had seen in his final photo sent to her.
She claimed they “managed to find the house” where she found two individuals.
They allegedly told her Jay had gone out to smoke before saying he wanted to go home.
According to the two people, the teen had been directed towards a bus stop “right next to the house” that had a service running every 10 minutes to Los Cristianos.
However, Lucy believes he must have lost his bearings as “everything looks the same” in the mountainous area.
“I can’t understand why he would come out of the house and then decide he was going to walk,” she added.
“I think he maybe set off walking with battery and had not realised how far the walk actually is.”
Lucy said there are still “so many questions that are unanswered”.
‘WEIRD’
She added: “He’s not a stupid boy.
“The thing I find the most weird about this is the fact that there’s nobody that’s seen him.
“And he’s not a stupid boy – he’s got some nous about him.”
Lucy said she couldn’t understand why no one had spotted him as she believed he would have tried to get help from a passing car.
The friend claimed Jay would never “have his family worrying like this” and would have attempted to ring his mum if he was in trouble.
“It’s just awful – I’ve never in my life been so worried,” she continued.
“I’ve literally not slept at all since.”
‘KISS GOODBYE TO YOUR BOY’
It comes as Jay Slater’s heartbroken mum revealed she was sent a horrifying Snapchat message as fears grow he’s been taken against his will.
Police have searched missing Jay’s Tenerife holiday apartment for potential clues to his whereabouts as concern deepens among his family that he could have been kidnapped.
Officers went into the room he was sharing with a friend at a three-star apartment complex in Los Cristianos in the south of the island as the teenager’s worried mum said she feared “something bad” happened to him and he was being held against his will.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, was booked on a flight back to the UK tomorrow morning.
Coronation Street star's plea for help
By Anita Markoff, TV reporter
VICKY Entwhistle, who used to play Janice Battersby on ITV soap Coronation Street, shared a heartbreaking post on Tuesday as the search continues for missing teen Jay Slater.
Vicky shared one of the missing posters circulating online, adding: “My God Mother’s Grandson has gone missing. His Mother has flown out 7pm. To join the police search.
“Hope to God they find him. Please pray for him.”
Fans flocked to the comments to offer reassurance, with one saying: “Saw this on Facebook Vicky, it seems to be getting shared far and wide, hopefully there will be some good news imminently with all the love and support out there, just makes it so much harder when abroad! Love and prayers for you all.”
Another offered: “We are in Tenerife if we can help in any way let us know.”
But his concerned mum Debbie Duncan, who has now been joined in Tenerife by Jay’s dad Warren, said she had his passport and she wasn’t expecting him to reappear and turn up for his plane home.
She has been staying at another apartment in the same complex Jay had booked into although she is due to move to new accommodation tomorrow.
Speaking this evening as the third day of police searches failed to find any trace of the 19-year-old, whose last phone contact with friend Lucy Mae was from mountains near the tiny village of Masca in north-west Tenerife, Debbie said: “I haven’t slept since all this began and I’ve no plans to go up to the search site right now.
“I’ve been warned I’d be beside myself when I see how rocky it is and I probably haven’t got the strength right now.
I’ve told them my suspicions, that I think Jay’s been taken up north by people against his will
Debbie
“I just want to be here for if he does turn up but I’ve got a bad feeling. I’m being warned there’s a lot of bad people in Tenerife.
“I just think he’s being held against his will. He’s not a stupid lad. He wouldn’t have gone walking down bloody mountains.
“There’s a road there with tourists and buses and properties, He’s not that daft.
“There’s no ransom demand come in yet but I got a Snapchat about 10 minutes after I got off the plane saying ‘Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.’ which I passed on to police with the number it came from because I had my wits about me at the time and got my eldest son Zac to take a screen grab before it disappeared.
“There’s been that many prank calls that I don’t know whether that was one but I’m passing on information to police that I think could be relevant and I thought that could be.”
ROOM SEARCH
She added: “Police have been into Jay’s room today. I’ve been in his room as well. But everything of Jay’s was neatly hung up, it’s just a normal room and there’s nothing untoward there.
“His passport was there along with all his euros which I’ve got now.
“I’m not sure he had any money on him when he made that last call to his friend Lucy on Monday morning before he vanished.
“But he had his bank card and I’ve checked his bank because I can get into his account online and there’s nothing gone out since he was on Veronica’s Strip in Playa de Las Americas earlier.
“He and his friend Brad who he flew out here with would have been getting up tomorrow and flying home.
I just want my baby back. Please, just anybody who can help just look for him. There’s a massive area up there, massive. It’s over 48 hours now since he last had any contact with anybody
Debbie
“They had a flight tomorrow morning. I’ve got the tickets as well as Jay’s passport which has had a stop put on it by the British authorities before they knew it was in my possession.
“Brad’s going to stay now. No-one’s going to go to the airport just in case Jay turns up there because I know for a fact he would have been in contact with someone and won’t be suddenly reappearing there without warning.
It comes as…
- Jay, 19, was first reported missing on Monday after vanishing on his way home from a rave the night before
- His stepdad Andy said Jay is “no mug” but could’ve taken a wrong turn on a 10-hour walk back to his hotel
- Mum Debbie was told by cops at 2am on Tuesday to catch the first flight to Tenerife
- She was later bombarded with prank calls from trolls claiming to have kidnapped her son
- A Coronation Street star with a connection to Jay’s family published an appeal for help to find him
- Jay’s posted a Snapchat the night before he vanished showing him smiling with friends
- His friend Lucy described the teen’s disappearance as “suspicious and weird” as cops vowed to keep an “open mind”
- Jay’s mother reveals she was sent a horrifying snapchat telling her to “kiss goodbye to your boy”
“I’m being kept updated with what police are doing through the British Consulate and the lady there who’s been fantastic.
“We’ve been speaking to her daily a few times.
“I’ve told them my suspicions, that I think Jay’s been taken up north by people against his will.
“My understanding is the police have been into the house he went to after he left the festival which is in the Teno Rural Park near Masca.
“I believe the people he went with are British and have Cockney accents but I’m not aware they’re being treated as suspects at this time.
“For me it’s just a question of sitting and waiting and hoping that tomorrow they’ll be good news.”
LATEST PLEA
In her latest appeal for information, Debbie told ITN a heart-wrenching plea.
She said: “It’s a nightmare. It’s just an absolute living nightmare. It’s like a dream – it’s like it’s not happening, it really is. I wouldn’t wish this on anybody.
“I just want my baby back. Please, just anybody who can help just look for him. There’s a massive area up there, massive. It’s over 48 hours now since he last had any contact with anybody.
“He’s out there somewhere, or somebody knows where he is. We just need to find my baby.”
She added: “First holiday abroad, saving up, looking forward to this event, three-day DJs from everywhere, absolutely buzzing about it.
“Now I just wish I hadn’t have encouraged him to go, I should have said ”don’t go to Tenerife’.
“He’s just an ace person. Everyone loves being in his company. He’s the life and soul, a beautiful boy, a good looking boy. He needs to be here.
“I said to him as well, I said ”Jay please have your wits about you, you’re in a foreign country, just stay together”.”
SEARCH OPERATION
Jay had flown out to Tenerife with friends Lucy Mae and Brad for the 2024 New Rave Generation (NRG) festival which ended on Sunday.
He left that night with two other men he had just met to go to their apartment, Manchester Evening News reports.
Jay’s last known location was the Teno Rural Park in the northwest of the island – a popular hiking spot for tourists – at around 8am on Monday.
The site is a 10-hour walk from where he was staying.
Jay’s friend Lucy said today that Jay’s disappearance is “suspicious” and insisted “something weird’s going on”.
A spokesman for the Civil Guard said today around 12.30pm local time: “The search operation has moved to the south of the island.
“The search areas are Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas.”
The spokesman didn’t give more detail on the reason for the switch but said: “It’s obviously down to information that’s been received as the investigation has progressed.
“As things stand at the moment the search in the mountainous area near Masca in the north has been halted.”
Police said this morning they were keeping an open mind on Jay’s disappearance as the third day of the huge search got underway.
A different Snapchat post, sent by Jay on Sunday night before he disappeared, showed the teen smiling with friends.
It was filmed at around 8.30pm in the Arona area of Santa de Cruz on the south of the island, where the festival was held.
After calling Lucy at 8am on Monday a missing person’s report was filed at around 9am and the search kicked into gear.
Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan and older brother Zak flew out on Tuesday to join the efforts.