A retired top detective has said he would have treated missing teen Jay Slater's case as a murder inquiry so vital evidence wasn't lost in the crucial first 24 hours.
Steve Gaskin was a detective chief inspector with the Metropolitan Police for more than 25 years and is a criminal psychologist, he has told the Mirror things are "not looking good" for the 19-year-old who vanished in Tenerife last Monday.
He says that if he was the SIO - senior investigating officer - when Jay's missing person's report came in to the police, he would immediately have to decide to either treat it as a missing person's inquiry or a murder case. He added that if he wasn't sure he'd always opt to treat it as a murder.
Steve told the Mirror: "If we treat this like a murder from the outset, then if it turns out not to be then nothing's lost, we only have a few hours - people call it the golden hour, but really it's the golden 24 hours - to gather forensic evidence before it's too late.
Steve on investigating Jay's disappearance: "I'd want to know what he had for breakfast""I'd want to know what he'd had from breakfast. Why has a 19-year-old bricklayer gone missing, what was he doing there, I would want to know everything about him, who was the last person to see him, check all their backgrounds too, I'd be speaking to police in the UK, has he got a criminal record, here or in Spain, what do we know about him."
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Steve, who worked on the psychology behind the serial killer Levi Bellfield's case, now runs The Crime Lab alongside his wife, former detective Kate Gaskin. The father of three uses his two decades of experience investigating murders to satisfy the public’s ever growing appetite for true crime.
As well as advising on TV crime dramas like BBC’s Silent Witness, the Gaskins host a variety of interactive crime-themed events, including talks like 'Inside The Mind of Lucy Letby', 'Why Children Kill', and 'How to Get Away With Murder'.
Steve advises TV crime dramasTalking about Jay's disappearance, Steve added: "There's a lot of speculation, but I just want to deal with the facts. I'd want to know who did he speak to, who has reported it, what they said, and I'd want to know the background of all these people too.
"Where is the CCTV, have any of these people got criminal records, the whole idea of this is to get a clear factual picture. And I'd want it as quickly as possible. The longer this goes on the more you're likely to suspect a criminal element. It's not looking good after this amount of time."
Steve added that he had a similar case to Jay's where a 19-year-old lad went missing in Battersea, London, when he was based at Scotland Yard. He added that he immediately treated it like a murder case and demanded updates from his team on the hour, every hour with what facts they knew.
He added: "We had four detectives dedicated to it, it's a lot of resources, they were drawn off other cases, but we found him."
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing on the holiday island since Monday. He was last seen by the owner of an Airbnb and it is thought he had missed the bus to reach friends at the south of the island, an area popular with British tourists.
Search teams in Tenerife (Stan Kujawa)His last known location has been traced to Rural del Teno, a mountainous area in the west of the island. The closest town is Santiago del Teide. He had been staying on the south of the island in an apartment with friends. One of those pal's Lucy Mae told police she woke up to a phone call from Jay at 8.30am saying “he was lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%”.
Shortly before vanishing, Jay had been messaging friends on social media Snapchat and seemed in a normal and stable state of mind. His phone died around 8.50am, with his last known location registered near a hiking trail, several hundred feet above the small village of Masca.
Steve explains how he would have investigated Jay's disappearance:
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Jay Slater has been missing for a week (Instagram)Immediately investigate as murder
By treating Jay's disappearance as murder, immediate resources can be ploughed into the investigation so vital clues are not lost.
Source CCTV and gather forensic evidence from where Jay was last seen.
Find out everything about Jay, who he was, why he was in Tenerife, what he did in the UK, did he have a criminal record here in Spain or in the UK
Who were the last people to see or speak to him
What do they know, who are they, do they have a reason to say what they are saying, can their version of events be verified with CCTV, phone records or forensic
Fly a family member from the UK to Tenerife to help us know more about Jay
Recruit other resources
A team of detectives dedicated to the case who report in on the hour, every hour with what they have learnt
Air reconnaissance, drones and a search team on foot
Forensic search in Tenerife and UK
As well as doing a forensic search of where Jay was staying, we'd also need to do the same in the UK, to look at his home and his place of work to see if there were any clues to why he went missing.
Fly a Spanish officer to the UK to help liaise with both police teams.
Apply to a British court for Jay's phone records
These will be crucial, they could triangulate his location and would also show us historically who he has associated with in the weeks, days and hours before he vanished
After the first golden 24 hours
Everything needs to be ramped up, because the longer it goes the less likely there will be a positive outcome
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