Jay Slater missing – latest: Mother of missing teenager fears he has been ‘taken’

Police officers searching for Jay Slater have returned to the Rural de Teno park in north-west Tenerife, after earlier announcing they were moving their search to the opposite side of the island.

In a statement on Facebook, one of Mr Slater’s family friends said: “Spoke to the police just now and the search is being relocated back to Masca only!!!

“Please if you want to help search contact the local coordinator first!!! Don’t go looking on your own and apply for the search group! You can reach them by calling 062 and tell you want to join the search for Jay.”

Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard from on Monday morning as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot.

Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning to search for him.

Ms Duncan said she feared her son, who is an apprentice bricklayer, had “been taken against his will”.

She said: “It’s just traumatic and it doesn’t feel real. It’s just awful, it’s horrendous.

“I think he’s been taken against his will with what’s been said, but it’s in the hands of the police.”

Speaking about her son, Ms Duncan said: “He’s just a great person who everyone wanted to be with. He’s good looking, he’s a popular boy.”

She added that the police leading the search had been “very good”.

A spokesman for the Civil Guard said at 12.30pm local time: “The search operation has moved to the south of the island. The search areas are Los Cristianos and Playa de Las Americas.

The spokesman wasn’t able to offer more detail on the reason but added: “It’s obviously down to information that’s been received as the investigation has progressed. As things stand at the moment the search in the mountainous area near Masca in the north has been halted.”

Speaking outside their home in Oswaldtwistle, his mother’s partner Andy Watson told The Sun: “It’s really worrying. It feels like a blur at the moment.

“Jay is very streetwise and he’s no mug but if it’s it was dark and he had no touch on his phone he could have gone the wrong way and become more lost than he was.”

Andy said Jay had disappeared after going to the New Generation Rave (NRG) festival with his friend Lucy and another friend.

He said: “Lucy contacted Debbie to say he’d gone back with two English lads he met at the party to their place for a few beers.

“Apparently, where they are staying is eight hours walking distance from where Jay is staying.”

Speaking to the BBC, Jay Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan said she had not slept since being told her son was missing.

“It was his first holiday abroad with his friends and I was encouraging him to go, I said ‘you will have a great time’,” she said.

“He’s not really a drinker is Jay but he had been drinking shorts and spirits that night.

“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.”

A Coronation Street star has joined the calls for help in finding apprentice bricklayer Jay Slater, who has been missing on Tenerife since Monday morning.

Vicky Entwistle, who playing Janice Battersby on the ITV soap, says she “hope to God they find him” as they tells another social media user that she knows authorities are “pulling out all the stops”.

She also revealed that Jay is her godmother’s grandson, and shared a poster which detailed his last whereabouts.

A Facebook group launched to help find Mr Slater has reached over 142,000 followers since his friends and family set it up.

His loved ones are regularly updating the page with information, after travelling out to Tenerife to join the search.

Jay Slater’s last registered location was in the Rural de Teno national park, a remote mountainous area in north-west Tenerife that is popular among hikers.

After attneding the NRG festival in Papagayo beach club, he had travelled to a different part of the island with new friends that he had met over the weekend.

Shortly after 8am, he contacted his friend Lucy and told her his phone was about to die, and that he was attempting to walk back to their accommodation, despite it being a 10-hour hike.

His phone’s last location was registered at 8.50am in the rural nature park, with the search focused on the Masca hamlet, in the municipality of Buenavista del Norte.

A Civil Guard spokeswoman in Tenerife told the Daily Mail that “everything possible” was being done to find Mr Slater.

“A specialist Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group called the Greim have been mobilised. A police helicopter is also out and focusing on the area around the village of Masca.

“Other emergency services including firefighters have also been mobilised,” they said.

“Everything possible is being done to try to find the missing man.”