28 June 2024 , 10:04
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The former British police detective working for missing Jay Slater's distraught family has thanked the public for their "huge response".
Mark Williams-Thomas, 54, says he is now focusing on speaking to more witnesses, including the two British men the 19-year-old stayed with the night before he vanished.
And he also issued a plea for anyone who saw or spoke to them or the apprentice bricklayer in Tenerife to come forward.
Writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Friday morning, Mr Williams-Thomas said: "I am grateful for the huge response from the public with information about Jay Slater.
"My focus now is on those who had direct contact with Jay in the days leading up to and on the night and morning of his disappearance, or if you were in the area of Masca on the morning of his disappearance on Monday 17th June.
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Ex Britrish Detective Mark Williams-Thomas is in Tenerife (Stan Kujawa)"I am also interested to hear from anyone who at any stage spoke to, or saw, the two men that Jay went back to the rental apartment with. Thank you."
The ex-cop, turned TV sleuth, held a press conference on the island on Wednesday, during which he made a plea for the two men to come forward and announced the opening of a new hotline number for the public to call with information.
The two British men are understood to have flown back to Britain days after Jay’s disappearance last week.
The two British men are understood to have flown back to Britain last week – days after Jay’s disappearance (MEN Media)On Wednesday, Mr Williams-Thomas told reporters: “I need to speak to those people because they are the last people, other than the owner of the holiday rental, that saw Jay.
“I believe they have crucial information that may enable us to find out what has happened to Jay. They were in the bars of the strip area, certainly for two days, they mixed with Jay and Jay’s group of friends that were there. They spent time in bars there, they say they drank Hennessy, which was their preferred drink.
Jay Slater has been missing since June 17 (Instagram)“I know the nickname of one of those individuals. I have a photograph of that individual. He’s about 6ft tall, he’s quite stocky, he had a distinctive bright orange wristband on and he’s got quite short black hair.
“It’s very difficult to tell but I think he’s probably aged around 30 to 40. One was slightly bigger and was much more chatty than the other.”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, had been partying at the New Rave Generation festival in the southwest of Tenerife before he vanished. He left the event with the two men to go back to their holiday rental, which was more than 20 miles and 11 hours’ walk from the Los Cristianos apartment where he was staying with best pal Lucy Law, 18, and a friend.
At 8.30am he called Lucy to say he was in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home with no water and 1% on his phone battery.
Mr Williams-Thomas flew to Tenerife on Monday after reaching out to Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan, 55, offering his help, which she accepted. He was seen carrying out inquiries at the holiday rental where the apprentice was last seen, as well as on the strip where Jay had been seen partying.
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