30 June 2024 , 14:14
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The two British men Jay Slater was last seen with actually met the teenager three days prior, a friend has now claimed.
Brad Hargreaves, who was staying in Tenerife with the 19-year-old before he vanished while trying to make the 11-hour walk back to where he was staying from the village of Masca, has made the new claim about the duo. Jay had gone back to the Masca Airbnb where the men were staying after a night out on the Sunday at the close of the NRG Tenerife Weekender festival.
The apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard from when he called pal Lucy Law, who he was staying with on the Monday morning, saying he was trying to walk home and that his phone was about to die. A two-week search of the area around where his phone was last tracked to was called off on Sunday after crews failed to find anything.
(Stan Kujawa)Initial reports claimed Jay met the two unnamed men the night before while out with friends, before going back to the Masca Airbnb with them. But now friend Brad has said they actually met days earlier, sparking confusion over what really happened.
Speaking to This Morning's Isla Traquair, Brad said he thought he had initially heard Jay slipping and falling on the rocks. Crime reporter Isla said Jay had met the men three days earlier, not the night before as initially reported.
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A view of the Airbnb Casa Abuela Tina in Masca, Tenerife, where Jay stayed on Sunday (PA)In her report, she said: "The two men that he went to go and stay with, they had met them three days before. They hung out with them, they made friends on holiday. It wasn't two random people he'd met that night. They'd established a friendship and Brad said they seemed like really cool guys."
The Civil Guard said on Saturday it had since spoken to and ruled out the men from their investigation. Head of the mountain rescue unit Cipriano Martin said: "Those men have been spoken to and they don’t have any relevance whatsoever for the case."
Jay Slater's best friend Brad Hargreaves spoke out on ITV's This Morning (ITV)Announcing the end of active, on-the-ground search efforts on Sunday morning, a spokesperson for the Civil Guard said: “The search operation has now finished although the case remains open."
A well-placed source said: “The daily operation which has been going on in and around Masca close to where Jay was last seen has been brought to an end. If any information comes in that merits a new search though it will be acted upon. My understanding is Jay’s parents have been informed of what obviously is a major development. Nothing of any relevance was found during yesterday’s large-scale search.”