‘Picture being painted of Jay Slater is just not true’, says employer of British teen missing in Tenerife
The construction company that employs missing British teenager Jay Slater has said the “picture being painted of him is just not true” – as search teams narrowed their efforts on small buildings close to where his phone last pinged.
Mr Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, has been missing in Tenerife since Monday morning.
The 19-year-old’s family have flown to the Spanish island to join police and a team of mountain rescuers in the search for him.
Since he went missing, rumours and conspiracy theories about his disappearance have circulated online, with social media users speculating on platforms including TikTok and Facebook.
Mr Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan told The Guardian that police in Tenerife have said there is “too much noise” around the case, adding: “They’ve got all the plans, their locations. They have got this map they were showing us, shaded different colours.”
Jay Slater and his mother Debbie Duncan. Pic: Lucy Law
The construction company that employs Mr Slater as an apprentice bricklayer said the teenager has been misrepresented online.
PH Build Group’s statement on Facebook reads: “Our Jay is still missing!
“We have decided to remove our last post due to all the negative comments and conspiracy theories.
“Jay has been with us since he left school and is liked by all. He’s a valued member of our team and we stand by him.
“The picture being painted of him is just not true. The fact is he’s a 19-year-old lad missing in a foreign country. He needs to be back home where he belongs. Come on Jay we are all praying for you.”
Pic: Lucy Law
Officers searching for Mr Slater in Tenerife could be seen circling two structures at the bottom of a ravine in Rural de Teno Park on Sunday – where his phone last pinged before it ran out of battery.
Efforts appeared to be solely focused on the one area after days of searches in the northwestern mountain village of Masca and the surrounding landscape.
Those conducting the searches on the seventh day of the hunt for Mr Slater could be seen looking into blue barrels outside one of the small buildings.
Mr Slater attended the NRG festival in the south of Tenerife on Sunday 16 June before going to Masca with two people he met at the event.
His friends he had been holidaying with have not seen him since last Sunday night, but on Monday morning he spoke to one of them on the phone and told her he was lost, in need of water, and only had 1% charge on his phone.
During the short phone call, he told Lucy Law he had missed a bus trying to get back to his holiday accommodation so was attempting to walk instead – a journey that would take 11 hours.
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Mr Slater’s father told Sky News he is “just hoping that somebody has helped him off this mountain”.
Warren Slater has flown out to Tenerife with the missing teenager’s brother Zak to help with the search.
The father said the last few days have been “a nightmare, just a nightmare”.
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‘I just want him back’
Meanwhile, Mr Slater’s mother made a direct plea to her missing son to come home, saying: “We just need you home.”
Ms Duncan said she has “not slept” since he disappeared.
Asked how the family were coping with the situation, she said: “We’re not. I’m not coping very well at all. I’ve not slept, I’m exhausted. It’s been awful. I can’t give up on him, I just can’t.”
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Tenerife local was last person to see Jay Slater
The last person to speak to Mr Slater was Masca local Ofelia Medina Hernandez, who told the teenager a bus was due at 10am after he asked what time it would come.
She added that he then set off before she later drove past him “walking fast”.
Earlier this week, photographs emerged showing the Tenerife property where Mr Slater had reportedly been before he went missing.
A GoFundMe page for Mr Slater’s family has raised more than £29,000 and will go towards family and friends staying in Tenerife while the hunt continues.
Donald Trump has threatened Russia with more sanctions after a series of deadly strikes across Ukraine, as he said of Vladimir Putin: “What the hell happened to him?”
The US president appeared aghast at the conduct of his counterpart in the Kremlin after drone and missile attacks in Kyiv and other Ukrainian cities left 12 people dead and dozens more injured.
Trump criticises Putin – latest updates
Speaking to reporters at an airport in New Jersey ahead of a flight back to Washington, Mr Trump said: “I’m not happy with Putin. I don’t know what’s wrong with him.”
“He’s killing a lot of people,” he added. “I’m not happy about that.”
Mr Trump – who said he’s “always gotten along with” Mr Putin – told reporters he would consider more sanctions against Moscow.
“He’s sending rockets into cities and killing people, and I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Ukraine said the barrage of strikes overnight into Sunday was the biggest aerial attack of the war so far, with 367 drones and missiles fired by Russian forces.
It came despite Mr Trump repeatedly talking up the chances of a peace agreement. He even spoke to Mr Putin on the phone for two hours last week.
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Hundreds of drones fired at Ukraine
‘Shameful’ attacks
Volodymyr Zelenskyy has said Ukraine is ready to sign a ceasefire deal, and suggested Russia isn’t serious about signing one.
In a statement after the latest attacks on his country, he urged the US and other national leaders to increase the pressure on Mr Putin, saying silence “only encourages” him.
Mr Trump’s envoy for the country, Keith Kellogg, later demanded a ceasefire, describing the Russian attacks as “shameful”.
Three children were among those killed in the attacks, explosions shaking the cities of Kyiv, Odesa, and Mykolaiv.
Ukrainian siblings Tamara, 12, Stanislav, eight, and Roman, 17, were killed in Russian airstrikes. Pic: X/@Mariana_Betsa
Before the onslaught, Russia said it had faced a Ukrainian drone attack on Sunday. It said around 100 were intercepted and destroyed near Moscow and in central and southern regions.
The violence has escalated despite Russia and Ukraine completing the exchange of 1,000 prisoners each over the past three days.
Donald Trump says he will delay the imposition of 50% tariffs on goods entering the United States from the European Union until July, as the two sides attempt to negotiate a trade deal.
It comes after the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said in a post on social media site X that she had spoken to Mr Trump and expressed that they needed until 9 July to “reach a good deal”.
The US president had last Friday threatened to bring in the 50% tariffs from 1 June, as European leaders said they were ready to respond with their own measures.
But Mr Trump has now said that date has been put back to 9 July to allow more time for negotiations with the 27-member bloc, with the phone call appearing to smooth over tensions for now at least.
Speaking on Sunday before boarding Air Force One for Washington DC, Mr Trump told reporters that he had spoken to Ms Von der Leyen and she “wants to get down to serious negotiations” and she vowed to “rapidly get together and see if we can work something out”.
The US president, in comments on his Truth Social platform, had reignited fears last Friday of a trade war between the two powers when he said talks were “going nowhere” and the bloc was “very difficult to deal with”.
Mr Trump told the media in Morristown, New Jersey, on Sunday that Ms Von der Leyen “just called me… and she asked for an extension in the June 1st date. And she said she wants to get down to serious negotiation”.
“We had a very nice call and I agreed to move it. I believe July 9th would be the date. That was the date she requested. She said we will rapidly get together and see if we can work something out,” the US president added.
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Shortly after, he wrote on Truth Social: “I agreed to the extension – July 9, 2025 – It was my privilege to do so.”
On his so-called “liberation day” last month, Mr Trump unleashed tariffs on many of America’s trade partners. But since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.
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Much of his most incendiary rhetoric on trade has been directed at Brussels, though, even going as far as to claim the EU was created to rip the US off.
Responding to his 50% tariff threat, EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said: “EU-US trade is unmatched and must be guided by mutual respect, not threats.
“We stand ready to defend our interests.”
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