Jay Slater’s disappearance – the unanswered questions

Published

5 months ago

July 1, 2024

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Police in Tenerife have called off their search for missing British teenager Jay Slater on Sunday nearly two weeks after he disappeared.

The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle near Blackburn in Lancashire, was last seen on Monday 17 June after he told a friend he planned to walk from the northwestern village of Masca to his holiday accommodation in Los Cristianos in the south – a journey that would take 11 hours on foot.

It may never be known what happened to Mr Slater after the teenager attempted to walk through northern Tenerife’s rugged and dangerous mountainous terrain.

Obviously, the biggest mystery is what happened to him, but extensive searches have taken place and, so far, there has been no trace of a body and no other clear clues as to where he ended up.

Further uncertainties remain. Here we take a look at the main unanswered questions so far.

Who were the men he went to northern Tenerife with?

Mr Slater had been holidaying with friends in Tenerife when they decided to attend the NRG music festival in the tourist hotspot of Playa de las Americas, in the south of the island.

After the event ended on Sunday 16 June, the teenager travelled back to a house in Masca in Tenerife’s northwest with two men he had made friends with on the island.

The identities of the two men have not been reported but police have told Sky News they are “not relevant” to the search.

Mr Slater reportedly shared a Snapchat photo at 7.30am on the morning he went missing showing himself with colourful fabric around him.

He later told his friend Bradley Hargreaves in a phone call that the two men had made up a bed for him.

Mr Slater and his friends had reportedly met the two men around three days before he went missing and got on well with them.

The teenager is thought to have travelled back with them because he didn’t want his night to end, but when he woke up in the morning he just wanted to get home.

Why didn’t he catch a bus instead of walking?

The last person to see Mr Slater in person was Masca local Ofelia Medina Hernandez.

The cafe owner said she spoke to the teenager at 8am on the morning he went missing, telling him a bus was due at 10am.

However, she said he set off walking and she later drove past him “walking quickly”.

At around 8.30am, Mr Slater told his friend Lucy Law in a phone call he was walking back to his accommodation after missing a bus.

It is not clear if the teenager ever tried to return to the bus stop before he went missing.

He told Ms Law he only had 1% battery – meaning it would have been too late for him to phone for a taxi if he became lost.

Ms Law told Sky News that Mr Slater is “not a stupid boy” and would have flagged down a passing car if he saw one.

Masca is set within a rugged, remote and hilly area and the temperature is thought to have been around 26C – meaning Mr Slater faced a challenging walk back to his accommodation on foot.

What route did Mr Slater take down the mountain?

The teenager’s precise route is of course not known, but it’s clear that he chose to leave the road and walk across more challenging terrain.

Ms Law said Mr Slater told her over the phone that he had “cut his leg on a cactus”.

When she told him to return to where he had walked from, he said he did not know where that was.

He was without food and water and wearing a T-shirt and shorts.

On Friday 28 June, Mr Hargreaves told ITV’s This Morning he had video calls with the 19-year-old as he tried to walk back to Los Cristianos.

Mr Hargreaves said the teenager had left the road and he saw his feet sliding on rocks.

He added that Mr Slater went down a “little drop” in one of his last video calls.

“He said, ‘look where I am’. He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was,” Mr Hargreaves said.

“I said, ‘put your location on’. He said: ’15-minute drive, 14-hour walk’. I don’t know if it’s accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It’s only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi’.”

Mr Slater’s phone last pinged in Rural de Teno Park in northwestern Tenerife before it ran out of battery.

Who was shown in the CCTV image shared by the family?

Around a week after Mr Slater was last seen, his family shared a blurry image of what they believe could be the missing teenager on CCTV in a town near to Masca 10 hours after he was first reported missing.

Sky News was not able to verify the source of the picture.

The sighting has not been confirmed by Spanish police but Mr Slater’s parents were hoping that it may help bring their son home.

The mayor of the Tenerife town of Santiago del Teide, where it was said the CCTV still was captured, later said he did not believe the image was from there.

It remains unclear where the still was taken and who it shows.

Why has the police search ended now?

Police and mountain rescue teams spent nearly two weeks looking for Mr Slater before calling off the search on Sunday 30 June.

Firefighters, specialist sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters were also involved in the search.

Police have not revealed if they have a specific reason for their decision to stop looking for Mr Slater.

A Civil Guard spokeswoman said: “The search operation is no longer active, but the case is still open and there are several lines of investigation.”

She added: “The search has gone on for many days because it is a rocky area that is hard to access.”

UK

Teenage girl killed on M5 in Somerset after getting out of police car named

Published

6 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Teenage girl killed on M5 in Somerset after getting out of police car named

A teenage girl who was killed after getting out of a police car on the M5 in Somerset has been named.

Tamzin Hall, 17 and from Wellington, was hit by a vehicle that was travelling southbound between junction 24 for Bridgwater and junction 25 for Taunton shortly after 11pm on Monday.

She had exited a police vehicle that had stopped on the northbound side of the motorway while transporting her.

A mandatory referral was made to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, which is now carrying out its own investigation into what happened.

Avon and Somerset Police said: “Our thoughts and sympathies go out to Tamzin’s family for their devastating loss.

“A specially-trained family liaison officer remains in contact with them to keep them updated and to provide support.

“The family have asked for privacy at this difficult time.”

The police watchdog, the IOPC, has been asked to investigate.

In a statement, director David Ford, said: “This was a truly tragic incident and my thoughts are with Tamzin’s family and friends and everyone affected by the events of that evening.

“We are contacting her family to express our sympathies, explain our role, and set out how our investigation will progress. We will keep them fully updated as our investigation continues.”

Paramedics attended the motorway within minutes of the girl being hit but she was pronounced dead at the scene.

The motorway was closed in both directions while investigations took place. It was fully reopened shortly after 11am on Tuesday, Nationals Highways said.

UK

Mohamed al Fayed’s brother Salah also abused women, say female Harrods employees

Published

6 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Mohamed al Fayed's brother Salah also abused women, say female Harrods employees

A survivors group advocating for women allegedly assaulted by Mohamed al Fayed has said it is “grateful another abuser has been unmasked”, after allegations his brother Salah also participated in the abuse.

Justice for Harrods Survivors says it has “credible evidence” suggesting the sexual abuse allegedly perpetrated at Harrods and the billionaire’s properties “was not limited to Mr al Fayed himself”.

The group’s statement comes after three women told BBC News they were sexually assaulted by al Fayed’s brother, Salah.

One woman said she was raped by Mohamed al Fayed while working at Harrods.

Helen, who has waived her right to anonymity, said she then took a job working for his brother as an escape. She alleges she was drugged and sexually assaulted while working at Salah’s home on Park Lane, London.

Two other women have told the BBC they were taken to Monaco and the South of France, where Salah sexually abused them.

The Justice for Harrod Survivors representatives said: “We are proud to support the survivors of Salah Fayed’s abuse and are committed to achieving justice for them, no matter what it takes.”

The group added it “looks forward to the others on whom we have credible evidence – whether abusers themselves or enablers facilitating that abuse – being exposed in due course”.

Salah was one of the three Fayed brothers who co-owned Harrods.

The business, which was sold to Qatar Holdings when Mohamed al Fayed retired in 2010, has said it “supports the bravery of these women in coming forward”.

A statement issued by the famous store on Thursday evening continued: “We encourage these survivors to come forward and make their claims to the Harrods scheme, where they can apply for compensation, as well as support from a counselling perspective and through an independent survivor advocate.

“We also hope that they are looking at every appropriate avenue to them in their pursuit of justice, whether that be Harrods, the police or the Fayed family and estate.”

The Justice for Harrods Survivors group previously said more than 400 people had contacted them regarding accusations about Mohamed al Fayed, who died last year.

One of those alleged to have been abused is Bianca Gascoigne, the daughter of former England player Paul.

Speaking to Sky News in October, Gascoigne said she was groomed and sexually assaulted by al Fayed when she worked at Harrods as a teenager.

UK

Wes Streeting ‘crossed the line’ by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman

Published

6 hours ago

November 15, 2024

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Wes Streeting 'crossed the line' by opposing assisted dying in public, says Labour peer Harriet Harman

Wes Streeting “crossed the line” by opposing assisted dying in public and the argument shouldn’t “come down to resources”, a Labour peer has said.

Speaking on Sky News’ Electoral Dysfunction podcast, Baroness Harriet Harman criticised the health secretary for revealing how he is going to vote on the matter when it comes before parliament later this month.

MPs are being given a free vote, meaning they can side with their conscience and not party lines, so the government is supposed to be staying neutral.

But Mr Streeting has made clear he will vote against legalising assisted dying, citing concerns end-of-life care is not good enough for people to make an informed choice, and that some could feel pressured into the decision to save the NHS money.

He has also ordered a review into the potential costs of changing the law, warning it could come at the expense of other NHS services if implemented.

Baroness Harman said Mr Streeting has “crossed the line in two ways”.

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

“He should not have said how he was going to vote, because that breaches neutrality and sends a signal,” she said.

“And secondly… he’s said the problem is that it will cost money to bring in an assisted dying measure, and therefore he will have to cut other services.

“But paradoxically, he also said it would be a slippery slope because people will be forced to bring about their own death in order to save the NHS money. Well, it can’t be doing both things.

“It can’t be both costing the NHS money and saving the NHS money.”

Baroness Harman said the argument “should not come down to resources” as it is a “huge moral issue” affecting “only a tiny number of people”.

She added that people should not mistake Mr Streeting for being “a kind of proxy for Keir Starmer”.

“The government is genuinely neutral and all of those backbenchers, they can vote whichever way they want,” she added.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously expressed support for assisted dying, but it is not clear how he intends to vote on the issue or if he will make his decision public ahead of time.

The cabinet has varying views on the topic, with the likes of Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood siding with Mr Streeting in her opposition but Energy Secretary Ed Miliband being for it.

The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill is being championed by Labour backbencher Kim Leadbeater, who wants to give people with six months left to live the choice to end their lives.

Under her proposals, two independent doctors must confirm a patient is eligible for assisted dying and a High Court judge must give their approval.

The bill will also include punishments of up to 14 years in prison for those who break the law, including coercing someone into ending their own life.

MPs will debate and vote on the legislation on 29 November, in what will be the first Commons vote on assisted dying since 2015, when the proposal was defeated.