A former Met Police officer has urged investigators in Tenerife to look into the days before Jay Slater vanished for possible clues.
The 19-year-old was last heard from in the northwest of the island after staying at an Airbnb in Masca on June 17 . He told friend Lucy Law he was planning to walk back to the south of the island - a journey of several hours - before his phone battery went dead. A massive search was launched but it was called off on Sunday after local police found no sign of him.
Graham Wettone, who worked in the Met Police for three decades, said locals in Tenerife should check the days before Jay vanished. He said: “They seem to be focusing primarily on the fact they were told he wandered off into the mountain, but we are now [three] weeks in, and nothing has been found up there."
Speaking to MailOnline, he added: "There are so many inconsistencies in what I am seeing and reading. I think the Spanish police need to take a step back and think ‘Why did he go missing where he did and in what circumstances?’
“I would even go back further to the days leading up to his disappearance, have they checked his bank accounts for anything untoward in the hours before he went missing. Were there any patterns forming to point to him going wandering off but the fact he is said to have done just doesn’t square with me.”
Last night Jay’s mother Debbie released a statement in which she praised Tenerife police for their efforts so far. She added: “My son, Jay Dean Slater, came to the holiday island of Tenerife on the 13th of June with his friend to attend a music festival. On the 17th of June after not returning to his apartment he was reported as a missing person. Jay is a normal guy who is in his 3rd year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.
"We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing. He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him.
"We do not have any information on his whereabouts. The Guardia Civil have worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay's last phone call was traced. They conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available.
“We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of enquiries. We would like to say to the press/news/reporters, that although we do not want to lose the momentum of Jay's disappearance, we really would like to maintain our privacy and crucially let the Spanish police get on with their investigations without hindrance from press.”
