This Video Cannot Be Jay’: TV Detective Debunks Theory in Search for Missing Teen Jay Slater

A TV detective who has flown to Tenerife to assist in the search for Jay Slater has debunked a new theory about the teenager’s disappearance. Nineteen-year-old Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing on the Spanish island since June 17.

After 13 days, police called off the search for Jay on Sunday, but others have continued to help his family seek answers. Among them is British detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been sharing regular updates since arriving on the island.

Now, the former cop has moved to debunk a theory after a ‘distressing’ video began circulating online, with people claiming the clip showed Jay. “Lots of people are contacting us about a distressing video that is circulating. The video was first posted on a social media site nine years ago and therefore cannot be Jay Slater,” Williams-Thomas said.

Jay last made contact with friends on June 17. He is known to have stayed at an Airbnb in the rural Masca village with two British men before vanishing around 8:50 am as he attempted to make his way back to the tourist town of Los Cristianos.

The latest development comes after Williams-Thomas turned his attention to an alleged ‘stolen Rolex,’ revealing that Jay had posted a video on Snapchat boasting about the theft of a £12,000 Rolex just hours before he vanished. Williams-Thomas explained, “On route Jay posted a Snapchat saying that they had taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person. We have been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft. However, friends of Jay say he would not make this up, and the watch was the subject of a later conversation between them.”

He also suggested that Jay was scared when he left the holiday rental where he was last seen, adding that the teenager couldn’t go back to the property despite it being the most ‘sensible course of action.’ “We have received information that would suggest Jay left the rental property feeling scared and that he would not return to the rental, even though that would have been the most sensible course of action, and also where he could have charged his phone and got water,” the detective said.

Williams-Thomas ruled out the possibility of kidnapping, despite Jay’s mother Debbie previously expressing her belief that he had been kidnapped. “We have no evidence at this stage to say there was any third-party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance,” he stated. “However, there are still a number of outstanding actions and therefore we still remain open-minded to the possibility of this changing. The evidence strongly supports that Jay walked off and was walking for at least 30 minutes off the road on a track before he last had contact with friends, with a very accurate location pin drop at 8:50 am.”

He appealed to landowners in the area of Teno Rural Park to check any outbuildings and land they have and expressed hope that further searches by volunteers in the yet-to-be-searched areas would continue.