Mum of Jay Slater issues 'we need you home' plea to missing son (2024)

Published

22 June 2024

The mother of a British teenager missing in Tenerife has issued a direct plea to her son as the sixth day of searching for him drew to a close.

Debbie Duncan, whose 19-year-old son Jay Slater has not been seen since Monday, said she wanted to tell him: "We just need you home."

He went missing after attending a music festival on the Spanish island.

Ms Duncan said she "could not give up" on her son, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, but she had not slept and was "not coping very well at all".

Specialist dog teams have been out searching for Mr Slater after he called a friend, saying he was lost and needed water.

Spanish police would not comment when asked about reports of a sighting of Mr Slater later that day.

On the sixth day of the search, police, rescue dog teams and firefighters reconvened in the mountainous terrain at Rural de Teno National Park, Mr Slater's last known location.

Lancashire Police said on Friday it had offered to support officers on the island in their efforts to locate Mr Slater, but added their counterparts were "satisfied that they have the resources they need".

The apprentice bricklayer's friends and family have said he had earlier left the group he travelled with in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas, on the south of the island.

After leaving the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club, he got in a car with two men he had met to drive to the national park in north-west Tenerife.

The administrator of a Facebook page set up to help find Mr Slater said somebody who was not the 19-year-old had logged in to his Instagram account .

Rachel Louise Harg said a fundraising page had gathered more than £26,000, which would help family and friends staying in Tenerife while the hunt continued.

People who had been "hacking" the social media accounts of Mr Slater's family were "sick in the head", she said.

Specialist officers are continuing to support Mr Slater's family, Lancashire Police said.

The Reverend Matt Smith, from West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle, said a service on Sunday would be "a chance for the community to come together".

"It will be a normal service and we will offer our prayers for Jay and give an opportunity for people to leave messages for him and light candles," he said.

"We are continuing to pray for Jay and hold his family in our prayers."

Deryn Regan, who owns West End Fish and Chips in Oswaldtwistle, said the community was in "shock" over the disappearance of Mr Slater, who was a customer.

"Everybody knows everybody so, for something like this to happen in our area, it does sadden us all," she said.

"I've got two young sons myself so, for one of them to go missing, I would be absolutely devastated, so I do really feel for the mother."

Pauline Stables, 63, who is a barmaid at Hare and Hounds, said she remembered Mr Slater as a young boy.

"I do know his mum, Debbie, quite well and it's her I'm feeling sorry for," she said.

"I just can't imagine the pain that she is going through, and the rest of his family, it's just awful - just come home to us."

On Friday, search teams appeared to be methodically scouring a mountain road and focusing on a ravine, before moving to a valley in the village of Masca.

Dog teams were scouring an area near farm buildings for much of the day, while police and mountain rescue officials examined a steep patch of land behind the apartment Mr Slater had reportedly travelled to.

The operation carefully combed through dead palm trees covering a river at the bottom of the hillside near to the property.

Investigators have been taking away bags of rubbish from the area to try and find any clues.

The apartment owner told reporters she saw Mr Slater walk up the road past her property but did not see him again after that, describing the situation as "worrying".

In a statement, Lancashire Police said it had "made an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources".

The British force said the Spanish police had confirmed "at this time they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but that offer remains open and they will contact us should that position change".

It added: "Our thoughts remain with Jay's family and friends at this distressing time."

Mr Slater was on his first holiday without family and had travelled to attend the festival with two friends.

Lucy Law, thought to have been the last person to speak to him, said he told her in their call that he had missed a bus and decided to walk the 10-hour journey home but was lost, needed water and his phone was on 1% battery.

The Rural de Teno is about a 40-minute drive from where Mr Slater and his friends were staying.

A remote and wild national park, it is a world away from Los Cristianos and Playa de las Americas, the party town holiday resorts of the island’s south coast.

Deep ravines and huge daunting mountains make the national park a difficult place for the Spanish search teams to navigate.

At night, the countryside becomes a maze, pitch black and disorientating.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office spokesperson said: "We are supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain and are in contact with the local authorities."

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