Why the hunt for Jay Slater is NOT over: Police seem to have lost their marbles, writes GUY ADAMS who saw officers 'pretend' to search. These six leads are still to be chased down...

The hunt for missing teen Jay Slater descended into farce yesterday arsenic Spanish constabulary called an abrupt halt to their hunt of the distant nationalist parkland wherever helium vanished precisely 2 weeks ago.

News of the daze improvement emerged aft rescue teams failed to crook up for work astatine the upland edifice wherever they person been assembling regular astatine astir 9am.

‘The hunt is present implicit but the probe remains open,’ a constabulary spokesperson said. ‘My knowing is that Jay’s parents person been informed.’

Jay’s parent Debbie was, successful fact, unaware of the quality until the Mail passed connected details. A root adjacent to the household insisted yesterday that ‘no 1 is leaving’ the vacation land ‘until we find Jay’.

Other reports said Debbie was ‘heartbroken and devastated’, with relatives feeling ‘a consciousness of bewilderment’ astatine the determination to extremity the upland search.

They were entitled to consciousness confused. Just 24 hours earlier, the aforesaid police, Tenerife’s Guarda Civil, had been playing a precise antithetic tune.

They were promising to orchestrate a ‘busqueda masiva’ (‘massive search’) to way down the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer, who has not been seen since locals saw him walking briskly up the roadworthy retired of the colony conscionable aft 8am connected Monday, June 17.

Volunteers were invited to walk Saturday scouring the rugged Masca valley, wherever he’d disappeared the greeting aft spending 3 consecutive days astatine Tenerife’s New Rave Generation creation euphony festival.

In the event, however, a specified six radical showed up to the busqueda. Their fig was dwarfed by the respective twelve journalists and movie crews present.

The serviceman successful charge, Cipriano Martin, past spent the heavy extremity of an hr staging bizarre photograph opportunities successful which helium and respective colleagues stood atop a upland walk and pretended to scour the horizon.

Frustrated by the delay, the lone British volunteer, Paul Arnott, stormed off, demanding that his sanction beryllium removed from the database of authoritative rescuers. He released an aggravated video connected TikTok, wherever helium earns a surviving arsenic a mountaineering ‘influencer’, dubbing the authoritative hunt cognition ‘ridiculous’, ‘madness’, and a ‘massive PR thing’.

Back astatine basal camp, Officer Martin past staged a abbreviated property conference. It was the archetypal clip immoderate subordinate of the Tenerife constabulary had agreed to reply questions astir the high-profile case, which has been generating headlines worldwide.

Things took a further surreal crook erstwhile helium was asked astir the 2 middle-aged men who had driven Jay from the Papagayo Beach Club successful Playa de Las Americas to the colony of Masca. Speaking successful Spanish, helium told reporters: ‘Those men person been spoken to, and they don’t person immoderate relevance whatsoever for the case.’

The remarks rapidly made headlines. When I heard him utter them, my archetypal presumption was that 1 of 2 things had happened: either thing was being mislaid successful translation, oregon the section constabulary main had parted institution with his marbles. A property serviceman accompanying Officer Martin denied that the archetypal anticipation was true, telling the Mail: ‘What helium was saying was that the investigators person not recovered thing pointing to those 2 radical being linked to the disappearance.’

The 2nd mentation – that Tenerife’s constabulary main has taken permission of his senses – truthful seems a chiseled possibility. After all, the duo’s relation successful Jay vanishing was hitherto regarded arsenic being of captious relevance, with Mark Williams Thomas, a backstage researcher moving for the family, describing them arsenic ‘key witnesses’.

Both of the mysterious men, who person yet to beryllium named, look to person decided to rent the two-bedroom Casa Abuela Tina successful Masca for the duration of the euphony festival. A humble property, listed connected Airbnb for astir €40 a night, it’s described connected the net tract arsenic ‘ideal to bask tranquillity, reading, hiking oregon nature’, with ‘wifi and each the indispensable appliances for a comfy enactment successful 1 of the astir beauteous and rugged places connected the island, nestled successful the bosom of Macizo de Teno’.

It makes a bizarre bolthole for idiosyncratic attending a festival much than an hour’s thrust away, successful a municipality filled with reasonably priced edifice hotels. To permission Masca, you indispensable navigate a treacherous single-track upland roadworthy riddled with hairpin bends.

Be that arsenic it may, the duo look to person go acquainted with Jay and his question companions - Lucy Mae Law, Brad Hargreaves and Brandon Hodgkin – during the weekend-long event, wherever they were often seen drinking Hennessy cognac.

The New Rave Generation festival progressive 2 night-time raves astatine a equine ranch supra Playa de Las Americas, the high-rise enactment superior of Tenerife, positive a daytime excavation party, an afternoon-long lawsuit astatine a ineligible marijuana dispensary and a last lawsuit astatine Papagayo Beach Club.

The full happening ended conscionable aft 4am connected Monday. But alternatively of returning to the three-star Paloma Beach Apartment Complex wherever helium was staying, a specified ten-minute thrust away, Jay jumped into a rental car belonging to the 2 men, who are described arsenic British and successful their precocious 30s to aboriginal 40s.

One is said to spell by the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’ and is described arsenic astir 6ft, stocky and with abbreviated acheronian hair. He was seen wearing an orangish wristband. Little other is known astir the different man. There are reports, albeit unconfirmed, that they told friends of Jay they hail from Luton.

The astir benign mentation for Jay’s determination to travel the duo is that helium simply fancied carrying connected the enactment aft the nine shut. He surely doesn’t look to person been forced into the conveyance against his will: immoderate friends accidental they were sent a representation of him wrong the conveyance with his hosts.

Other friends person meantime told constabulary that his disappearance whitethorn beryllium linked to a combat that broke retired arsenic revellers were leaving the Papagayo Beach Club. It allegedly resulted successful a invaluable Rolex ticker being stolen from an Eastern European man. Whatever happened, Jay ended up astatine the cottage successful Masca immoderate clip aft 5am.

Around 7.30am, helium near the flat and sent 2 Snapchat images of himself outside. One showed a presumption of the valley. In the other, helium held a cigaret portion connected the beforehand steps. Wrapped astir his legs was an orangish blanket. It seems to person been offered by the 2 men, who had fto him slumber connected the sofa.

Half an hr later, Jay near the cottage. The duo aboriginal told his friends that he’d told them helium wanted to bargain immoderate cigarettes and spell home.

A villager named Ofelia Medina Hernandez, whose member owns Casa Abuela Tina, saw him waiting astatine the autobus stop. However, upon learning that a conveyance wouldn’t beryllium arriving until 10am, helium began walking briskly up the steep roadworthy retired of Masca.

Around 8.30am, helium spoke to Brad Hargreaves via Snapchat, having seemingly decided to permission the Tarmac roadworthy and locomotion cross-country. At 8.50am, Lucy Mae Law says Jay phoned her to accidental helium was ‘lost successful the mountains, with nary h2o and 1 per cent battery’ and had been chopped by a cactus. His telephone ‘pinged’ extracurricular a upland edifice atop the walk retired of Masca astatine 8.51am and that was the past motion of him.

The 2 men were aboriginal questioned by Spanish police, who took their passport details. There is immoderate disorder astir what happened next. The Casa Abuela Tina appears to person been booked until the pursuing Saturday, but the men flew retired of Spain connected Tuesday, June 18.

However it’s imaginable that antithetic guests had taken it for the remainder of the week. Friends of Jay judge the men were initially expected to permission Tenerife connected Monday, the time that Jay went missing, but were asked to enactment connected an other 24 hours to assistance with inquiries.

They look to person utilized Snapchat to stock images of themselves landing astatine Gatwick.

Although the upland subdivision of the Civil Guard has called disconnected its search, and has nary further involvement successful the men, who were among the past radical to spot Jay, colleagues successful the land superior Santa Cruz de Tenerife are understood to inactive beryllium looking into Jay’s disappearance. They won’t accidental if this is simply a transgression investigation.

As for Jay’s family, who hail from Oswaldtwistle successful Lancashire, they person for immoderate clip been captious of the Tenerife police, who person declined assistance from their colleagues successful the UK.

Both Debbie and her erstwhile hubby Warren, who is Jay’s father, person received lone intermittent connection from officers since arriving connected the island.

For now, they aren’t going anywhere. So arsenic the enigma implicit Jay Slater’s disappearance enters its 3rd week, 1 hunt that remains a agelong mode from being cancelled is the hunt for answers.