Amateur sleuths who have taken over the search for Jay Slater claim they have discovered a new clue which could help explain what happened to him.
Yesterday, Spanish police announced that they were ending their search for the missing apprentice bricklayer, 19, from Lancashire, but the case would remain open.
His ‘disappointed’ family have slammed authorities for ending the search after 14 days and have turned to the help of TikTok sleuths who continue to scour the mountainous region of north-west Tenerife.
TikTok climber Paul Arnott, 29, who has been assisting Jay’s family since the police wound down their investigation told MailOnline a pair of sunglasses similar to the ones Jay was last seen wearing had been found close to where his mobile phone last pinged.
The video, which has since been deleted, shows a pair of broken black sunglasses lying on the ground near to the Mirador viewing point, in the area where his phone was last tracked in the Rural de Teno Park near the village of Masca.
Amateur sleuths who have taken over the search for Jay Slater claim they have found a pair of sunglasses that could belong to the missing teenager. Pictured: The teenager the day before he went missing
A sleuth claimed a pair of sunglasses has been found on a remote Tenerife mountain that could belong to missing raver Jay Slater
The video, which has since been deleted, shows a pair of broken black sunglasses lying on the ground near to the Mirador viewing point, in the area where his phone was last tracked in the Rural de Teno Park near the village of Masca
Jay’s desperate family have called in the help of one TikTok sleuth – Paul Arnott (pictured). He has blasted a police search on his TikTok account as a ‘PR exercise’
Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan has said she is praying her son does not ‘come back in a body bag’. They are pictured here together
Jay’s father Warren along with with Jay’s mother Debbie and a number of his friends have flown to the Spanish island
Warren Slater (right), 58, and his son Zak (left), 24, pictured alongside volunteers at the remote mountain spot outside the village of Masca where Jay’s mobile phone last pinged
Despite a search involving dogs, drones, helicopters and mountain rescue teams there has been no trace of Jay
Missing raver Jay Slater, 19, went missing following a night out in Tenerife’s Playa de las Americas resort on June 17
The 29-year-old, who runs the TikTok account Down the Rapids and describes himself as an ‘explorer’, has been searching for Jay since Saturday. He has posted more than 70 videos since, racking up millions of views
Family members have been handed the sunglasses, which were found by an army expat named only as Chris, who lives on the Spanish holiday island.
Paul told MailOnline: ‘There have been some new developments and these sunglasses could be key.
‘They were found by an army guy called Chris who lives here. I don’t want to go into too much detail yet but the family have them and are looking at them.
‘They could be Jay’s they are very similar to ones he has and we are waiting to see. It could be very significant.’
The alleged discovery comes on day 14 of the search as:
Mr Arnott, an adventurer and mountaineer from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, cancelled a charity fundraiser to fly out to Tenerife last week and join the search and rescue operation.
The self-described explorer, who has been sharing clips on TikTok of his own search operation, has been backed by Jay’s family, who he claims are ‘really proud’ of his efforts.
After Spanish officials called off the search yesterday, he told MailOnline: ‘The police say they have searched everywhere but I’m not happy with that.
‘If they had searched everywhere they would have found him, but they haven’t and I’m convinced he is on that mountain.
‘I’ve been along ridges and gullies they haven’t been down and now I intend to look at two other ravines.
Police had been concentrating their search on a ravine further along the national park, with caves near Los Carrizales being investigated
‘They say they have searched everywhere but in my opinion that haven’t and that’s why I am carrying on.’
Mr Arnott also revealed he had refused help from Jay’s family and said: ‘They are so amazing and lovely. They just want to find Jay and I want to help them.
‘They keep offering to pay for my food and accommodation, but I keep telling them no. I don’t want anything and I don’t want anything from the Go Fund Me site.
‘What I would be interested in doing is setting up my own fund to pay for a team from Scotland mountain rescue to come out here.’
Speaking on ITV’s This Morning, he said: ‘There has been a lot of people around however I’ve only seen four people actually searching.
‘The rest of the people are standing on the side of the road, blocking off paths, trying to stop news reporters going into certain areas.
‘The four people that are searching are doing a good job of searching the paths.
‘They’ve gone off-grid a little bit from what I can see but everyone else is just standing about.’
Today it emerged that Spanish authorities say there is ‘no current evidence of criminality’ in the Jay Slater case.
The female investigating judge who is being kept informed of developments has been told the Civil Guard sees nothing at this stage pointing to Jay being the victim of a crime.
As is standard procedure in Spain, the police force is reporting to a court which has opened a routine judicial investigation and has declined to comment on what it is doing behind the scenes as part of a ‘parallel probe’ which has continued despite the ending of the visible mountain search.
On Saturday, a search took place in Masca, where the local police asked volunteers to help with the search for Jay Slater
Yesterday morning the mountain side near Masca where the search parties gathered for two weeks was quiet on the hillside after Spanish police announced that they were ending their search for the missing apprentice bricklayer
A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity as is normal in Spain, said: ‘There is no evidence of criminality at this stage in this case.
‘That’s not to say things won’t change because the case remains open and investigations are ongoing. But right now that’s the situation.’
Another said: ‘This missing persons’ case has been judicialised as is normal in Spain and it’s been lodged at Court of Instruction Number One in Icod de los Vinos.
‘The Civil Guard don’t have to tell the judge about everything officers are doing but will be keeping her updated on case progress and of course update her on any significant developments.’
In line with the revelation that the Jay Slater probe is being treated at the moment as a missing person inquiry and not a crime, officials confirmed investigating judge Maria Goya has not declared it ‘secret’ to protect the judicial proceedings.
An order called in Spanish a ‘secreto de sumario’ is often slapped on a criminal probe in its infancy, preventing even defence lawyers and prosecuting attorneys from accessing case files.
Such orders also prevent public officials from revealing details of any case files with breaches punishable by heavy fines.
Judges who make their investigations secret when cases are still in their infancy act out of a desire to avoid them being compromised by minimising the risk of leaks.
The judicial source said: ‘The Jay Slater case that has been opened at the Icod de los Vinos court is not under any secrecy order.’