Missing Jay Slater’s father breaks down as he tells of ‘residing hell’

Jay Slater’s distraught father broke down in tears today as he described his family’s ‘living hell’ a week after his son vanished in Tenerife.

Warren Slater desperately appealed for help finding the 19-year-old, who was last seen in Santiago del Teide.

Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer, disappeared last Monday after going to the three-day NRG music festival on the Spanish island – sparking a huge police investigation which has now entered its second week.

The missing teenager left a nightclub in the party resort town of Playa de las Americas with two men he had met and he went back to their Airbnb near the northwestern mountain village of Masca, which is more than 20 miles away. 

Today, his 55-year-old father told of his desperation to bring his son home. 

He 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.’

Jay posted a Snapchat of him at the doorway of the property at 7.30am on June 17, tagged with the location Parque Rural de Teno. After leaving their accommodation, he missed the bus home and was facing an 11-hour walk back to where he was staying. 

The last confirmed sighting of Jay was at around 8am last Monday by a woman who had told him the bus was due at 10am when he asked. She saw him set off on foot and later drove past him ‘walking fast’.

Jay then made a desperate call to his friend Lucy Mae Law, telling her he was ‘lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water’. The call then cut out and his phone last pinged in the rugged Rural de Teno national park at 8.50am.

He has not been seen or heard from since but hopes have been raised by a new CCTV image. The grainy image was captured by a webcam at Santiago de Teide last Monday at around 6pm – nearly ten hours on from his phone’s last live location.

The CCTV is taken close to a church, San Fernando Rey, where Jay’s mother told MailOnline on Saturday that a man has come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men.

The sighting has not been confirmed by local police, who say ‘nothing has been ruled out and nothing has been ruled in’, as they continue to focus their efforts on a ravine near where he was last seen.

A source close to the family said: ‘It looks like him and is certainly a man’s shape but we just don’t know. It was taken near the church where a witness says he saw him so we have to keep hoping.’

The church of San Fernando Rey is around 15 miles from the rave venue Jay was partying at and 3.5 miles from where his mobile phone last pinged in the rugged Rural de Teno park, where search efforts have been concentrated.

Speaking to MailOnline on Saturday, Jay’s mother Debbie, 55, revealed: ‘Someone has come forward to say they saw someone who they thought was Jay walking back down the road sat on a bench.

‘He was with two men looking a bit worse for wear, and they were by a church, this guy has come forward and told the police about it and they are looking into it, we don’t know if it was Jay for sure but it’s a start.

‘They said it was about 6pm which is ten hours after he was seen by the lady in the village but if it was him what was he doing there and who are these two men ?

‘All I know is that I am going to stay here for as long as it takes, I’m not going home unless it’s with Jay. I’m not going anywhere until they find him.’

Police have spent the last six days scouring the Masca gorge looking for any clues. Search teams have narrowed their efforts on small buildings close to where his phone last pinged.

Officers from the Guardia Civil in the Canary Islands could be seen circling two structures at the bottom of a ravine in Rural de Teno Park on Sunday.

Efforts appeared to be solely focused on the one area after days of searches in the village of Masca and the surrounding landscape. 

Those conducting the searches on the seventh day of the hunt for Jay could be seen looking into blue barrels outside one of the small buildings.

On Friday it emerged that Lancashire police, had offered to help but their Spanish counterparts had turned it down.

The same day Debbie spent more than eight hours with police in Los Cristianos as they explained how they had been searching and showed her maps and images of the vast zone they have been trawling.

When asked how she felt that the offer had been declined, Debbie said: ‘I had a screaming and shouting day when I had the meeting with the police.

‘I know the Spanish police mean well but the problem we are having is the language barrier, we just don’t seem to be getting told, I’m sure they are doing their best.

‘They told me they had used dogs and drones and then they said Lancashire police had offered their resources but they turned it down, but I think that would have really helped.

‘I would feel happier if our people were over helping. It’s just so difficult not knowing where he is, the area and the terrain is rough but the police were saying that now there are too many people up there and it could interfere with their investigation.’

It has also emerged Lucy has been questioned again at length by Spanish police separately with officers wanting to go through timings once again with her although there is no suggestion of anything untoward.

Meanwhile in a Facebook post early on Monday Debbie addressed the concerns over the GoFundMe Page set up for him as which has attracted more than £32,000 in donations.

She said: ‘I really am saddened by all your comments. You seem to be so bothered about this GoFundMe page. I really hope I am not taking my son home in a body bag.

‘The funds are not released and won’t be if not needed. I really cannot believe the British public are not supporting me in trying to find Jay. This may happen to any of you one day. Very let down by you all.’

She later updated the post and said: ‘Update!! Sorry that you have taken this the wrong way. I am overwhelmed with the generosity. What I meant was VERBAL support. I really hope I don’t need this money. If its not needed it all gets refunded to the people who really did care.’

It comes as the detective-turned-TV investigator who probed the disappearance of Nicola Bulley claimed that Debbie is ‘keen to accept my team’s help’.

Mark Williams-Thomas, who also exposed Jimmy Savile‘s evil crimes, has offered his expertise as the hunt for the missing 19-year-old who vanished after leaving a Tenerife nightclub enters its second week.

Mr Williams-Thomas, who revealed he had ‘reached out’ to Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, yesterday has now given an update on X/Twitter.

He wrote: ‘Brief update: Jay Slater’s family clearly struggling with all the media interest and attention, have switched off all phones and cut contact. I am awaiting to speak to mum later today, but have had a response from close relative that mum is keen to accept my team’s help. 

‘Having worked with many families at crisis point when a child goes missing the loved ones become the eye of the storm and it’s very very tough for them to manage all the enquiries on top of there own stress & worry.’  

Mr Williams-Thomas was previously lead investigator on the ITV Exposure documentary, The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which revealed how the late BBC presenter systematically and disturbingly preyed upon young and vulnerable girls.

He also offered help earlier this year when mother-of-two Ms Bulley, 45, went missing while walking her dog in St Michael’s on Wyre, Lancashire, before her body was later discovered and an inquest ruled she had accidentally drowned.

His latest intervention comes amid wild speculation online and TikTok sleuths flying from Britain to Tenerife to join the search.

At least five British nationals have spent hundreds of pounds on making the trip despite having no link to Jay.

Paul Arnott, 29, who runs the Down the Rapids TikTok account and describes himself as an ‘explorer’, spent £400 on travelling to Tenerife on Saturday from Fort William, in Scotland.

He told The Telegraph: ‘It’s cost quite a few hundred pounds so far. I’ve been trying to contact mountain rescue all day but I haven’t been able to get through to anyone.’

He added: ‘The idea is ideally to communicate with mountain rescue and the police and if I can’t get a response then I’ll do my own thing in hits area and try and work out where’s not been searched.’ 

Mr Arnott said he would want someone to come out and help if the same thing had happened to him. 

Police have been searching for Jay in the Teno Nature Reserve, referred to as ‘malpais’ by locals — a word that translates into English as ‘badland’. 

But Jay’s friend Lucy has blasted the Spanish police, claiming they are ‘not doing a good job’ as family and friends desperately try to find him.

In a statement released late on Friday, Lancashire Police said it had ‘made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil’ but this was declined after local cops said they were ‘satisfied that they have the resources they need’.

Lucy said: ‘We are having to do this all by ourselves as Spanish police are not doing a good enough job.

‘They don’t even speak English. It’s been a very slow process here so we need the British police to come out and help them.’

She told of wanting to ‘bring him home to his family’, adding: ‘That is all we want, all that we need.’

Meanwhile Jay’s distraught father Warren, 58, has fought back tears as he told of just wanting ‘my boy back’ as he and Jay’s brother Zak, 24, visited the spot where his phone last pinged and hugged each other in emotional scenes.

Choking back tears Warren, wearing a bucket hat, sunglasses and black t-shirt, said: ‘He’s my son. I just want him back.’

The visit came as a bombshell new video of missing Jay dancing shirtless in a Tenerife nightclub just hours before he disappeared has emerged.

In the new clip of Jay which has emerged, he is seen dancing shirtless in Papagayo nightclub which is at the end of the infamous Veronica’s Strip area of Playa de las Americas.

The after-party is known to have wrapped up at 5am and an hour later Jay was with two mystery British men at their £40-a-night AirBnB 19 miles away at Masca.

It was here that a woman made the last confirmed sighting of Jay at about 8.15am, saying he was walking at pace up the hill and away from Playa de las Americas.

The walk from Jay’s last known location to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.

A GoFundMe page set up to raise funds for Jay’s family hit its target of £30,000 just three days after being set up on Sunday. 

In a statement on the site, Debbie thanked everyone who had donated for their ‘generosity and kindness during this difficult time’.

She added: ‘I just wanted to confirm that this is the only GoFundMe fundraiser approved by our family.

‘We have not yet withdrawn any funds and are currently covering the expenses, such as the trip to Tenerife and accommodation, ourselves.

‘The funds will remain on hold with GoFundMe until we post a further update on this page.

‘We are extremely worried and are doing everything we can to find Jay.

‘Please continue to share our fundraiser far and wide. Your support means the world to us, and we are grateful for any help you can provide.

‘Thank you again.’