Warren Slater, the distraught father of missing British tourist Jay Slater, has described his family’s ordeal as a “living hell” after his son vanished during a holiday in Tenerife.
The 19-year-old was reported missing last week in the Canary Islands, sparking a desperate search by his family and local authorities. Jay was last seen planning to embark on an 11-hour trek back to his hotel when he missed his bus on Monday, but he never returned.
His father Warren, aged 55, has been tirelessly searching and putting up posters around Santiago, where Jay is thought to have been caught on CCTV. The search efforts are now concentrated in that area.
Speaking to The Mirror, Warren said: “I just want him to be found, simples. I just want my son back, end of. What more is there, it’s been a week now, a week of nothing, so somebody somewhere must’ve found out something. Somebody. It is a living hell, unless you’re going through it, you cannot explain.”
He continued: “Please, please please, if anybody knows anything just come forward and help us. I don’t know if anything untoward has happened to Jay, one minute he is here, the next minute he’s disappeared. I don’t believe he’s still in that mountain. The police have put every effort into finding him. The authorities have done everything they can in the search, everybody is up there looking for him.”
“We need everybody to help us to search through this wilderness, everybody. It’s barren.”
His plea comes after Jay’s mother also spoke out and said she wants “her baby back”. The mum has since revealed that her son was potentially picked up on camera in Santiago de Teide.
The blurred image was captured outside of a church at around 6pm last Monday. It is the latest potential sighting of the 19-year-old although authorities have not confirmed it is Jay Slater in the image.
However, Jay’s mum is hopeful. Speaking about the development, Debbie said: “Someone has come forward to say they saw someone who they thought was Jay walking back down the road sat on a bench.
“He was with two men looking a bit worse for wear, and they were by a church, this guy has come forward and told the police about it and they are looking into it.”
“We don’t know if it was Jay for sure, but it’s a start. They said it was about 6pm which is 10 hours after he was seen by the lady in the village. But if it was him what was he doing there and who are these two men?”
She added: “Everyone loves being in his company, and he was having a laugh with these guys.”
“He wouldn’t have seen the danger, he didn’t have his wits about him, he just wanted to go and have fun. It’s just traumatic and it doesn’t feel real. It’s just awful, it’s horrendous. He’s just a great person who everyone wanted to be with. He’s good looking, he’s a popular boy.”
Police are yet to respond to reports of the possible sighting of Jay.