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.
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.
Cipriano Martin, head of the Civil Guard’s Greim mountain rescue unit, said: “The operation is going to consist of a search with the people that have come here today, in a thorough manner.
“At the height we are, we need to progress by ruling out areas and make sure that the areas we search, with the work we have done this week, are looked at well and can be ruled out.
“And of course that’s going to be done based on the information we have, and that information of his last-known position and the conversations he had the day he disappeared.”
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
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.
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.
Please, please please, if anybody knows anything just come forward and help us
Warren Slater
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.
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
SUNDAY JUNE 16 – MONDAY 17
Jay goes to a rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona on the south of the island
8.35pm – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of him laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is driven back to their accommodation across the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of a hand holding a cigarette in the area where the accommodation was – near the rural de Teno Park on the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he missed a bus, had one per cent of battery left on his phone and was stuck in the “middle of nowhere”
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – Police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight out to Tenerife
7am – She flies out from Manchester Airport alongside her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie is sent a Snapchat message saying “Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12.30pm – Police move the search to the south of the island briefly after a false sighting
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says there was “nothing untoward there”
Debbie gives a heart-wrenching interview where she shares fears he has been “taken” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Cops begin day four of the massive search for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire cops offer to help with the search but Tenerife authorities say they are “satisfied that they have the resources they need”
Search turns to 22,000ft ravine in Masca – part of an area dubbed “the badlands” by locals
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins with sniffer dogs, cops, mountain rescue and firefighters again taking to the hills in northern Tenerife
Possible new sighting of Jay places him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although unconfirmed by police
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Cops focus their search around small outbuildings in de Teno park near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
The GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy surpasses £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay appearing to fall and stumble back up at a rave before he vanished
MONDAY 24
Search for Jay enters eighth day
Police expand search area north to parts of Buenavista del Norte
Jay’s dad says his family are in ‘a living hell’
TUESDAY 25
Brit hiker found by Jay search teams says he ‘didn’t need to be saved’
Madeleine McCann cop lands in Tenerife to join search
Tenerife cops call in reinforcements from Madrid – including specialist sniffer dogs
WEDNESDAY 26
Locals claim they have spotted Jay watching Euros
Investigator reveals descriptions of two men Jay partied with
Cops scour exact spot where ‘mystery grainy figure’ was seen
THURSDAY 27
Detectives ‘fear it’s unlikely Jay will be found alive if in mountains’
Search hones in on series of caves in desolate park
Family ‘turn to help of TikTok sleuth’
FRIDAY 28
GoFundMe goes £10,000 over target as it hits £40,000
Tenerife cops announce huge search for Jay & appeal for volunteers
SATURDAY 29
Cops launch a massive new search for Jay as they call on volunteers to help out
