Jay Slater sleuth says he has had no fundraiser money from missing teen's mother, despite her claim to 'support' him
4 July 2024, 21:26
A TikTok sleuth who has been helping with the search for Jay Slater has said that he has seen no money from the fundraiser, despite the missing teen's mother saying she would send him some.
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Callum Fahim said he was quitting the search for 19-year-old Jay, who went missing on Tenerife on June 17, over two weeks ago.
A statement from Debbie Duncan released earlier this week said some of the £48,000 raised on GoFundMe would go towards supporting Mr Fahim, along with other volunteer investigators who had flown out to Tenerife.
But Mr Fahim told Sky News: "I haven't had anything from the GoFundMe. We have not had a bit of essentials paid for.
"I've never had any money from them whatsoever or even offers to go and pick anything up.
"If they had offered it, personally I would've said maybe a bit of a treat at the end of the week, but don't worry about it."
Read more: ‘Scared’ Jay Slater fled Airbnb after ‘stealing £12k Rolex’, private investigator claims
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Jay's mother Debbie Duncan and her family accused Mr Fahim of "wanting a free holiday".
They added: "This is about Jay and he's still missing and we've got people crying about money. It's nothing to do with money.
"We're not sat here doing nothing. We're doing everything we possibly can to find Jay. We can't go off down hills climbing on our own. We wouldn't like to be responsible for anyone hurting themselves."
A friend of the family added in a statement on Thursday afternoon: "For those of you who are more concerned around the Gofundme page I can assure you that up to now it has not been used and our stay up to now has been financed by ourselves.
"I do have proof of transactions and transfers to other persons but I should not have to justify this. So you can make up your own minds. If any of you in this group have donated I am thankful."
Ms Duncan's earlier statement read: "The Spanish police conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available.
"Although the land search ended, the Spanish police still continue with their investigations into why Jay had travelled to the location so far away from his accommodation.
"We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities, who continue to follow lines of inquiries.
"In the meantime, we will continue to use part of the funds to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay.
"We are currently looking after Paul Arnett, putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him. We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.
"The remaining funds will continue to be used to support the rescue teams who are tirelessly searching for Jay as well as our own expenses as we remain in Tenerife looking for our boy.
"We will continue to keep you all updated on the progress on our GoFundMe page, and we thank you for your continued support. Please keep sharing and supporting our fundraiser to help us bring Jay home."
It comes after a private investigator claimed that a ‘scared’ Jay fled the Airbnb he stayed in with two men after admitting to stealing a £12,000 Rolex,.
Mark Williams-Thomas, who worked on the Madeleine McCann case, said Jay did not want to return to the Airbnb in Tenerife - despite his phone running low on battery.
Williams-Thomas claimed on his Twitter page that Jay posted a Snapchat saying he had taken the Rolex from an unidentified person.
Police are understood to be speaking to witnesses about an alleged Rolex theft at a beach club hours before the teenager’s disappearance.
A ‘brawl’ reportedly broke out at the Papagayo Beach Club in the early morning of June 17 after an Eastern European man allegedly had his watch taken.
Williams-Thomas added that he has not been able to verify whether what Jay said was true, but that friends have said “he would not make this up”.
“The watch was subject of later conversation between the friends,” he added.
