Jay Slater update as top detective debunks viral video surrounding disappearance

A leading British detective has shared an update on the Jay Slater case, saying that a “distressing” video circulating online was actually first posted on a social media site nine years ago and cannot be the missing teen. 

The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing for over two weeks on the Spanish island of Tenerife, having last made contact with friends on June 17.

He is known to have stayed at an Airbnb in the rural Masca village with two British men before disappearing around 8.50am as he attempted to make his way back to the tourist town of Los Cristianos.

After a two-week-long search, the Spanish police announced that they would be officially ending the search on Sunday, June 30. 

Now, British TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who flew out to Tenerife to try to track Slater down, has debunked rumours that the “distressing” video circulating online shows the missing teen. 

“Lots of people are contacting us about a distressing video that is circulating. The video was first posted on a social media site nine years ago and therefore cannot be Jay Slater,” he said. 

It comes after the ex-police officer turned his attention to an alleged “stolen Rolex”, revealing that Jay had posted a video on Snapchat boasting about the theft of a £12,000 watch just a few hours before he vanished. 

Williams-Thomas explained: “On route, Jay posted a Snapchat saying that they had taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person. We have been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft. However, friends of Jay he would not make this up and the watch was the subject of a later conversation between them.”

He also alleged that he had received information that Jay was scared when he left the rental property – where he was last seen – adding the teenager couldn’t go back to the property despite this being the most “sensible course of action, and also where he could have charged his phone and got water”.

Williams-Thomas has ruled out the theory that Slater has been kidnapped, despite his mum Debbie previously saying she believed that was what had happened to her son. 

He added: “We have no evidence at this stage to say there was any third-party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance.

“However, there are still a number of outstanding actions and therefore we still remain open-minded to the possibility of this changing. The evidence strongly supports that Jay walked off and was walking for at least 30 minutes off the road on a track before he last had contact with friends, with a very accurate location pin drop at 8.50am.

“I would make an appeal for landowners in the area of Teno Rural Park to check any outbuildings and land that they have and hope that some further searches will continue by volunteers in the area not yet searched.”