TikToker abandoned search for Jay Slater and flew home after receiving threats someone is ‘going to find you’
8 July 2024, 08:06
A amateur sleuth who flew to Tenerife to join the search for Jay Slater flew home after claiming he’d received threats online while out there.
Listen to this article
Loading audio...
Callum Fahim was targeted by trolls who left him feeling unsafe, - even tracking his flight number from his online live streams.
He flew out to help the search efforts for Jay, who has been missing since the middle of last month.
Mr Fahim flew home after he received troubling social media messages including one which read “people are going to find you at the airport take extra care. He said he would love to get hold of you.”
A man even filmed himself waiting for Mr Fahim to come through at the airport - telling a live video stream: “If he doesn’t come out in the next five minutes, the police are everywhere now so I might have to disappear.”
Mr Fahim said he decided to give up due to online threats, organised gangs on the island, and running out of money.
He told the Independent: “I didn’t feel safe out there but I felt like I had a duty of care to be there.
“I’m receiving horrific messages from people threatening to kill me. People said they are going to find me and break my back.”
Read more: Mother who admitted helping end the life of her terminally ill son 40 years ago dies
Mr Fahim had previously sparked an angry backlash after he said he had not been given any money to help with the search.
Debbie Duncam, Jay's mum, published a statement on the fundraising page, where she thanked NHS worker Mr Fahim and another TikToker, Paul Arnott, for their help.
She said part of the funds were being given to the pair, with some money being put towards “Callum’s accommodation and essentials”.
However, Fahim hit back, stating that he had received no money and needed to pay “for his own bus tickets” to go to the search site at Masca each day.
“I can confirm that non (sic) of my essentials and non (sic) of my group's essentials have been paid. However she did contribute towards a hotel and flight,” he said on a TikTok livestream.
Jay Slater’s mother meanwhile has shared an update on the GoFundMe page.
She said she has been ‘overwhelmed’ by support as funds passed £51,000.
“We have been contacted by a wonderful group of locals who have volunteered to continue the search,” she said.
“While they don’t wish to accept financial help for their search, we will be supporting them with supplies and are so grateful for their willingness to help.
“We also continue to be contacted by experienced groups offering to support our search. We are busy talking to them about what they can do to assist. But in order for us to employ their help, they need to have permission from the Spanish authorities.”
Jay Slater’s family have continued their search for the missing teenager in a ‘treacherous’ gorge.
family and a few volunteers have remained on the island as they continue to scour near the last location Jay’s phone was tracked to.
Jay’s uncle, father and brother were joined by local hiker Juan Garcia on Saturday who said the area was a “labyrinth” and that the operation was “like looking for a needle in a haystack”.
