Staff Reporter
THE family of missing Lancashire teenager Jay Slater believe that he was ‘killed instantly after falling from height’ in Tenerife.
The revelation comes after the Spanish authorities discovered a body yesterday, four weeks after Slater went missing on the Canary Island after a night out.
Detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been in Tenerife helping try to locate the 19-year-old, said that the body – which has yet to be formally identified – was discovered in an inaccessible place.
“He was found at a pretty inaccessible place not far from the spot where Jay had sent his location to two friends shortly before 9am, four weeks earlier to the day,” said Williams-Thomas, in comments reported by The Mirror.
Read more: Human remains found in Tenerife believed to be those of missing teenager Jay Slater
“The area where the body was found was highlighted yesterday afternoon with the search and rescue helicopter in the area, it is around a 20 minutes walk from the pin drop location,” he added.
While formal identification of the body is yet to take place, a missing persons organisation reported yesterday that Slater’s possessions and clothes were found with the human remains.
An autopsy is due to be carried out today, Tuesday.
A spokesperson for his family also said that they were ‘absolutely broken’, and added that it could take up to a week to transport the body back home.
Jay Slater’s friend Lucy Law, with whom he was on holiday when he went missing, shared an emotional statement on Instagram after news of the discovery broke on Monday.
“Honestly lost for words,” she wrote.
“Always the happiest and most smiley person in the room, you was one of a kind Jay and you’ll be missed more than you know,” the post continued. “I’m sure you’ll ‘have your dancing shoes polished and ready’ waiting for us all. We all love you buddy. Fly high.”
Law was one of the last people to speak to Slater, when he told her by phone that he had got lost, had no water and had no battery left.
The two had been at a music festival the night before, but Slater left with two men to head to their Airbnb in the north of the Canary Island.
He then disappeared near a hiking trail in the Rural de Teno national park, near Masca, which is where the body was found on Monday.
