Yzabelle Bostyn
LOCALS have claimed they spotted missing Brit Jay Slater ‘watching the Euros in Tenerife’ as the 10 day search continues.
THE Mayor of Santiago del Teide has claimed several locals have reported sightings of the missing teen to Spanish police.
According to Emilio Jose Navarro, they claim they saw the apprentice bricklayer watching Euros matches after his last contact with friend, Lucy Mae Law.
It comes after CCTV footage emerged on Monday supposedly showing Jay walking past a church in the same town.
The footage was captured at around 6:00pm on Monday, June 17, some 10 hours after he was last seen.
It also follows a reported sighting of Jay at around 06:00pm on Monday, sitting on a bench with two men in Santiago del Teide.
Jay’s last confirmed whereabouts were in Masca, a village four miles further up the mountain.
Navarro said: “We know the police are investigating the CCTV images.
“They have asked for the town hall’s security cameras and they are also working with the company that handles those cameras.”
The news has been reported by many UK news outlets including the MailOnline, the Independent and The Mirror.
However, the Olive Press was unable to identify the original source of this information.
The teen, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, went missing some ten days ago, after attending a three day music festival in Tenerife.
After the festival, the apprentice bricklayer went to a nightclub, where he made friends with other tourists he would eventually leave the club with in the early hours of the morning.
He left the Playa de las Americas venue at around 05:00am with the two men.
Jay went back to their Airbnb in Masca, a small village in the northwestern mountain village, more than 20 miles away.
At 7:30am on Monday, June 17, he posted a Snapchat in the doorway of the property, tagging the location as Parque Rural de Teno.
He reportedly missed the bus home to the accommodation where he was staying with friends on the south of the island.
Despite the 11-hour-walk ahead of him, he told friends and family he was going to set off on foot.
The last confirmed sighting of the British teen was at around 8am on Monday, when a woman claims she told him the next bus was due at 10am.
She then saw him set off, before driving past him as he ‘walked fast.’
Then, Jay made a panicked call to his friend, Lucy, telling her he was ‘lost in the mountains with one percent battery and no water’.
His phone cut out, showing his last location as the Rural de Teno national park at 8:50am.
Many of Jay’s family and friends have flown out to Tenerife to aid the search.
Nonetheless, Spanish forces reportedly rejected offers from Lancashire Police to help.
The search initially covered a large area around the village of Masca, where Jay was last seen.
However, in the past week it as focussed in on the Masca gorge, where Guardia Civil officers are scouring a 2,000ft ravine and several outhouses.
They have employed specialised search dogs, drones and helicopters.
The Policia Nacional are also investigating the disappearance in a ‘parallel’ operation.
They are reportedly looking into Jay’s criminal past for possible clues, but are not sharing this information with Guardia Civil officers.
Jay, alongside seven friends, was convicted of a violent machete attack which took place in 2021.
The gang left the victim, Tom Hilton, with a split skull and Jay had almost completed a community service order given as punishment when he flew to Tenerife.
Photo: Facebook
However, Hilton has urged the slew of amateur investigators to ‘have some respect’, expressing his wish for Jay to return home safely.
The case has captured the attention of social media sleuths worldwide, who are circulating wild conspiracy theories about the case.
Some of these centre on a GoFundMe page set up by Lucy to raise funds after Jay’s disappearance.
The over £30,000 fund has changed beneficiaries multiple times during the investigation, prompting suspicion from social media users.
READ MORE: Timeline of disappearance of British tourist Jay Slater
However, Jay’s mum, Debbie Duncan has been ‘saddened’ by the comments, saying: “I really hope I’m not taking him back in a body bag.”
Duncan is ‘at her wits end with worry’ since her son vanished and says she has ‘hardly slept’.
Jay’s dad, Warren Slater, has described the ordeal as a ‘living hell’ and has put up missing posters all over the island.
