Jay Slater’s mum says Spanish police ‘annoyed’ about ‘noise’ round case
Cops hunting for missing teen Jay Slater have been left frustrated by the “noise” around the case, his worried mum has said.
Distraught Debbie Duncan, who has flown to Tenerife to join the search for the 19-year-old, says police on the Canary Island have “stepped up” their efforts.
But as another day passed with no answers, she revealed the current “noise” surrounding the case, which has sparked global headlines and social media speculation, was impeding the search.
READ MORE: Expert warned accident where missing Jay Slater was last seen was ‘inevitable’
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Speaking from her apartment, Debbie told the MEN: “We’ve been there [the police station] all day today, and I think it’s been stepped up.
(Image: ITV News)
“We’ve had a problem with the language barrier. It’s difficult with all the Spanish police and British police; they have to let the Spanish police do the investigation.
“They [the police] have actually said that there’s too much noise, that’s affecting it. They’ve got all the plans, their locations. They have got this map they were showing us, all shaded in different colours.”
It comes as pals said Debbie had been left “devastated” after being hit with hundreds of vile messages from conspiracy theorists online.
(Image: MEN Media)
Wild, baseless theories about Jay’s disappearance have flooded social media, which have been denied by his family. Rachel Louise Harg hit back at trolls, posting: “His mum is absolutely broken, it’s cruel.
“We know he as been with two or possibly more people up in the mountains, we can confirm phone signal has proven this. After that, we don’t know, as here in Spain without evidence of anything they can’t look into it.”
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, vanished on Monday after he’d travelled to a rental property in the village of Masca with two pals he met at a party.
The owner of the Airbnb revealed Jay asked about a local bus before attempting the almost 11-hour trek back to his hotel.
His last known contact was with a pal who he rang to say he had just 1% phone battery and did not know how to get back to his hotel.
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
A five-day major manhunt has now homed in on a 2,000ft-deep ravine in a remote, desert-like park, known to locals as “the badlands”.
A Civil Defence search team member told the MEN: “We still have hope that he’s alive, up until the last moment when the last hope is lost.
“The truth is that we feel a bit frustrated because we can’t find him. It’s so big [here] that it’s very difficult to search in such a steep area. But we’re doing everything we can.”
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