Jay Slater's uncle vows family will continue search after police update on missing teen
9 July 2024, 21:07
Jay Slater's uncle has said "we have to be doing something" as he vowed his family would continue searching for the missing teenager in Tenerife.
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Jay, 19, has been missing since June 17 after attending a music festival in Tenerife.
A source close to the Spanish civil guard said they are "not giving up hope" of finding Jay, who is “missing feared dead”.
Asked about whether the status of the investigation, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard said: “The investigation is ongoing and several lines of inquiry are being pursued.”
The missing teen's family are frustrated about the lack of progress, including his uncle who described the family's situation as "just desperate - despair", when talking to Sky News on Tuesday.
Glen Duncan said the family feels like they've been left on their own and asked if they wanted help from UK police, he said: "We would love that, it's just not as simple as that."
"So far we've just been in touch with the British consulate out here who have been saying it's still a live investigation, we have just got to sit tight.
"It's just adding to the despair really."
Mr Duncan added the family haven't given up hope and will continue to search until Jay has been found.
"We're going to have to be doing something because otherwise you're just sitting in the apartment staring at the same four walls," he said.
On Monday, Jay's father Warren Slater, 58, revisited the vast landscape in Tenerife where the 19-year-old from Lancashire went missing more than three weeks ago.
Speaking to The Sun, Mr Slater said: "As a family, we need to ask the British authorities to help. He's a British citizen. Get Interpol involved.
“At the moment, it’s just us. I haven’t got a team. We need a team to come over here and find out for us what the police are doing and what we need to do.
"Our hands are tied over here - we need experts.
“It’ll take an army 10 years to cover all this. I’d employ a team of Gurkhas."
It comes after it emerged that Jay may have lost the key to his apartment on the night he vanished, according to one of the last people to see him alive.
After being separated from his pals at a rave, the teen spent the night at a secluded Airbnb with two men an 11-hour walk from where he was staying.
The morning after, Jay reportedly left the Airbnb - planning to catch a bus back to his accommodation.
He was last seen leaving the Airbnb, which had been rented out by convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim.
Now, a new theory suggests the missing Brit had lost the key to his room, leading him to look for a new place to stay.
According to The Sun, new messages from Ayub show Jay had complained about his missing keys on the night before his disappearance.
Slater’s family has previously dismissed claims the keys played a role in his disappearance.
