Jay Slater’s mum ‘losing her mind’ over missing son & blasts ‘nonsense conspiracy theories’ for distracting from search
JAY Slater’s mum has revealed she is “losing her mind” as the hunt for the missing Brit teen continues.
The 19-year-old travelled to the remote holiday let in Masca, Tenerife, with two British men hours before he disappeared almost one month ago.
A heartbroken Debbie Duncan said she is living a nightmare and “breaking down in living hell” as no signs of missing Jay has yet been found.
She told MailOnline: “My life is a living hell at the minute, we are a normal family from Lancashire, I’m breaking down, I’m losing my mind here.
“I can’t even bear the thought of my life carrying on without Jay, I just can’t, he was my everything, he was my sidekick.”
Jay was last seen on June 17 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.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay made a frantic final call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost.
His phone pinged for the final time shortly before 9am that morning in the rocky terrain.
He has not been seen or heard from since – and Spanish cops called off the official search almost two weeks ago.
Jay’s family and friends, plus some volunteers, have since taken it upon themselves to scour unforgiving terrain for Jay.
After weeks of endless searching from Spanish cops, Jay’s family and volunteers no trace of the teen has been found with many feeling the hunt was nearing an end.
A heartbroken Debbie, who has been in Tenerife since Jay disappeared, added: “Warren and Jay’s brother have been up there, and it worried me I’ve told them not to do ‘owt stupid as it’s dangerous up there, and I’ve said not be going down any paths.
“I can’t bring myself to go there, I just don’t think my brain would cope, I would collapse.”
The mum also blasted wild conspiracy theories around Jay’s disappearance as “nonsense” and said they have been distracting the family from searching for the missing teen.
She said: “My child is missing … that’s it, we’ve just got to put our trust in the investigators and not nonsense conspiracy theories.”
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.
Debbie previously called on the Spanish police to do more in the operations after they didn’t allow cops from the UK to fly out and join in the search.
After weeks of endless searching from Spanish cops, Jay’s family and volunteers no trace of the teen has been found with many feeling the hunt was nearing an end.
They were left “blindsided” when Spanish cops abruptly axed the search for Jay after less than two weeks.
They have been staying at a hotel – but The Sun can reveal they are now looking for a more permanent place to coordinate their efforts.
A desperate Debbie said: “All I can do is stay here and go to the police station, but we are as much in the dark as anyone, we really don’t know anything, I just don’t know any more.
“I’ve asked Lancashire police for help but they can’t tell me anything, it’s just so frustrating.
“I’ve screamed and ranted at police but we’re just not getting anywhere, I think they were talking about contacting Interpol.”
Spanish cops are starting to probe three new bombshell leads with one theory saying the missing 19-year-old could still be alive in another part of Tenerife.
A source close to the Spanish Guardia Civil told The Sun the case is still “very much open” with “all scenarios being kept in mind”.
Investigators say they haven’t deemed the teen as “missing feared dead” yet as they continue to mule over the mystery case.
A police source told The Sun: “The case is very much open because there are still a number of unanswered questions which officers must find answers to.
“They are convinced someone, somewhere knows what happened to Jay or knows where is now is, and that’s what they are working towards trying to establish as quickly as they can.”
“Even though the ground search for Jay is over, the investigation into where he might be still remains very much open.
“One line of inquiry is a theory that Jay might even be in a different part of Tenerife and still alive. All scenarios are being kept in mind.”
Meanwhile, former Met detective Mark Williams-Thomas claims he has uncovered a bombshell new clue in Jay’s case.
The ex-cop, who worked on the Madeleine McCann case – and is on the ground in Tenerife – said he has passed on a “significant new piece of information” to Spanish police.
He has been in close contact with a number of witnesses including Jay’s family and friends, and has been updating cops on his findings.
Yesterday Jay’s desperate dad Warren Slater, 58, spoke to The Sun about the search for his son.