Jay Slater: Mother of missing British teen ‘spends eight hours in Tenerife police station’ as officers ‘step up’ search
The mother of Jay Slater, the British teenager missing in Tenerife, says she spent eight hours in a police station on Friday as police outlined their search plans.
Debbie Duncan told the Guardian she still thinks “something untoward” may have happened to her son.
She flew to the Spanish island on Tuesday, the day after the 19-year-old went missing, to help look for him.
On Saturday, the sixth day of the search, police, rescue dogs and firefighters reconvened at Rural de Teno Park, the last location logged by Mr Slater’s phone.
Ms Duncan told the Guardian police have said the “noise” around the case was affecting their investigation, but said she believes they are “stepping up” their search.
It comes after reports somebody logged into Mr Slater‘s Instagram account who was not him.
Rachel Louise Harg set up a GoFundMe page to go towards search efforts and a Facebook page to help find him, which had raised more than £26,000 of its £30,000 target by Saturday afternoon.
She said people who had been “hacking” the social media accounts of Mr Slater’s family were “sick in the head”.
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Tenerife local was last person to see Jay Slater
Ms Duncan said police had told her they were “investigating all leads”.
“They’ve got all the plans, their locations,” she added.
“They have got this map they were showing us, shaded different colours.”
She renewed calls for British police to help with the search, saying there had been a “problem with the language barrier”.
But Spanish police have rejected an offer by Lancashire Constabulary to assist. The force said while the case “falls outside the jurisdiction of UK policing”, it offered to support Spanish police “if they need any additional resources”.
Search and rescue teams on the sixth day of the hunt. Pic: PA
The force added: “They have confirmed that at this time they are satisfied that they have the resources they need, but that offer remains open and they will contact us should that position change.”
Mr Slater is from the Lancashire town of Oswaldtwistle, where specialist officers are continuing to support his family, the force said.
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The apprentice bricklayer was holidaying with friends on Tenerife before he disappeared, and had been at the NRG music festival on Sunday.
He was last heard from just after 8am on Monday, when he called his friend Lucy Law to say he was setting off on an 11-hour walk to get home after missing a bus.
She said he told her he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.
Bolivian armed forces have taken over the capital’s central square as an armoured vehicle rammed through the entrance of the presidential palace as the president said the country is facing a coup attempt.
The country’s president, Luis Arce, warned an “irregular” deployment of troops had taken place and called for “democracy to be respected” on X as Bolivian TV showed two tanks and a number of soldiers in front of the government palace in La Paz.
Video on Bolivian TV showed Mr Arce confronting the general commander of the army, Juan Jose Zuniga, in the palace hallway, telling him: “I am your captain, and I order you to withdraw your soldiers, and I will not allow this insubordination.”
Soldiers stand guard outside Bolivia’s presidential palace. Pic: AP
An armoured vehicle rams into the door of the presidential palace. Pic: AP
Before entering the building Mr Zuniga told journalists in the plaza: “Surely soon there will be a new cabinet of ministers; our country, our state cannot go on like this.”
Mr Zuniga said he recognises President Arce as commander in chief “for now”.
In a video surrounded by his cabinet Mr Arce said he is standing firm against an attempted coup.
Military police stand amid tear gas outside the presidential palace. Pic: AP
Former Bolivian president Evo Morales denounced the movement of the military in the Murillo square outside the palace in a post on X, calling it a coup “in the making”.
Mr Zuniga earlier confirmed the movement of uniformed officers and said: “We are upset by the affront, enough is enough.”
He spoke on TV of “attacks on democracy” without elaborating.
Maria Nela Prada, minister of the presidency and a top Bolivian official, said military and tanks were taking over the plaza, calling it an “attempted coup d’etat”.
“The people are on alert to defend democracy,” she told local television station Red Uno.
Bolivia has faced mounting protests in recent months over the steep decline of its economy over the last two decades.
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World
Evan Gershkovich: US journalist seen with shaved head as he goes on trial in Russia for spying
Evan Gershkovich has been seen with a shaved head as he went on trial behind-closed-doors in Russia accused of spying.
Reporters were allowed to briefly film the US journalist on Wednesday before the start of the hearing in the city of Yekaterinburg where he is charged with espionage, which he denies.
Mr Gershkovich was seen standing in a glass box wearing a black-and-blue checked shirt before the proceedings were closed.
The 32-year-old’s trial is to take place behind closed doors. Pic: Reuters
The next hearing was set for 13 August.
The Wall Street Journal reporter was first arrested and detained in March 2023 after Russia claimed he had been “gathering secret information” on orders from the CIA.
The 32-year-old reporter, who has already spent nearly 15 months behind bars in Moscow’s notorious Lefortovo jail, faces up to 20 years in prison if found guilty.
Russian courts convict more than 99% of the defendants who come before them, and prosecutors can appeal sentences they regard as too lenient, and can even appeal acquittals.
Last week, the first details of the allegations against him emerged as it was claimed he was seeking details about Uralvagonzavod, a facility that produces and repairs military equipment, the prosecutor general’s office said.
The authorities have not publicly disclosed any evidence to back up the accusations.
The trial is due to take place behind closed doors – something Russia says is normal in espionage cases.
Mr Gershkovich, his employer and the US government strongly deny the claims and Washington has designated him wrongfully detained.
Jay Conti, executive vice president and general counsel for Dow Jones, which publishes the Journal, described the trial as a sham, saying: “He was an accredited journalist doing journalism, and this is a sham trial, bogus charges that are completely trumped up.”
“Evan has done nothing wrong. He should never have been arrested in the first place. Journalism is not a crime,” US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said last week.
He added: “The charges against him are false. And the Russian government knows that they’re false. He should be released immediately.”
The reporter makes a heart-shaped gesture at a previous court appearance. Pic Reuters
The White House has sought to negotiate Mr Gershkovich’s release, but Russia’s foreign ministry said Moscow would consider a prisoner swap only after a trial verdict.
However, that could be months away, because Russian trials often adjourn for weeks.
While Russia-US relations are fraught over the war in Ukraine, the Kremlin and Washington did agree a high-profile prisoner exchange in 2022 that secured the release of basketball star star Brittney Griner, who was serving a lengthy sentence for cannabis possession.
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Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested Mr Gershkovic could be swapped in return for the release of Vadim Krasikov, a Russian imprisoned in Germany for assassinating a Chechen rebel leader in Berlin.
However, this would require the cooperation of Germany in a Russia-US dispute.
Mr Gershkovich, the American-born son of immigrants from the former Soviet Union, was the first US journalist detained on espionage charges since Nicholas Daniloff in 1986 at the height of the Cold War.
It followed a crackdown on freedom of speech after Mr Putin sent troops into Ukraine.
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