‘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 agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States, going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Pic: Reuters
It comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy said he had a “very good conversation” with Mr Trump late on Monday. He thanked him for the “willingness to support Ukraine and to continue working together to stop the killings”.
Weapons being sent from to Ukraine include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which the country has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
Mr Zelenskyy previously criticised Vladimir Putin’s “desire to drag [the war] out”, and said Kyiv was “working on major defence agreements with America”.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump over Mr Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump threatens Russia with ‘severe’ tariffs’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call”, but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Mr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
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Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
Donald Trump has agreed to send “top of the line weapons” to NATO to support Ukraine – and threatened Russia with “severe” tariffs if it doesn’t agree to end the war.
Speaking with NATO secretary general Mark Rutte during a meeting at the White House, the US president said: “We’ve made a deal today where we are going to be sending them weapons, and they’re going to be paying for them.
“This is billions of dollars worth of military equipment which is going to be purchased from the United States,” he added, “going to NATO, and that’s going to be quickly distributed to the battlefield.”
Weapons being sent include surface-to-air Patriot missile systems and batteries, which Ukraine has asked for to defend itself from Russian air strikes.
Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump also said he was “very unhappy” with Russia, and threatened “severe tariffs” of “about 100%” if there isn’t a deal to end the war in Ukraine within 50 days.
The White House added that the US would put “secondary sanctions” on countries that buy oil from Russia if an agreement was not reached.
It comes after weeks of frustration from Mr Trump against Vladimir Putin’s refusal to agree to an end to the conflict, with the Russian leader telling the US president he would “not back down” from Moscow’s goals in Ukraine at the start of the month.
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Trump says Putin ‘talks nice and then bombs everybody’
During the briefing on Monday, Mr Trump said he had held calls with Mr Putin where he would think “that was a nice phone call,” but then “missiles are launched into Kyiv or some other city, and that happens three or four times”.
“I don’t want to say he’s an assassin, but he’s a tough guy,” he added.
Earlier this year, Mr Trump told Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelenskyy “you’re gambling with World War Three” in a fiery White House meeting, and suggested Ukraine started the war against Russia as he sought to negotiate an end to the conflict.
After Mr Trump’s briefing, Russian senator Konstantin Kosachev said on Telegram: “If this is all that Trump had in mind to say about Ukraine today, then all the steam has gone out.”
Read more:
Trump announces 30% tariff on EU imports
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Two women killed after shooting at US church
Listen to The World with Richard Engel and Yalda Hakim every Wednesday
Meanwhile, Mr Zelenskyy met with US special envoy Keith Kellogg in Kyiv, where they “discussed the path to peace” by “strengthening Ukraine’s air defence, joint production, and procurement of defence weapons in collaboration with Europe”.
He thanked both the envoy for the visit and Mr Trump “for the important signals of support and the positive decisions for both our countries”.
At least 30 people have been killed in the Syrian city of Sweida in clashes between local military groups and tribes, according to Syria’s interior ministry.
Officials say initial figures suggest around 100 people have also been injured in the city, where the Druze faith is one of the major religious groups.
The interior ministry said its forces will directly intervene to resolve the conflict, which the Reuters news agency said involved fighting between Druze gunmen and Bedouin Sunni tribes.
It marks the latest episode of sectarian violence in Syria, where fears among minority groups have increased since Islamist-led rebels toppled President Bashar al Assad in December, installing their own government and security forces.
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In March, Sky’s Stuart Ramsay described escalating violence within Syria
The violence reportedly erupted after a wave of kidnappings, including the abduction of a Druze merchant on Friday on the highway linking Damascus to Sweida.
Last April, Sunni militia clashed with armed Druze residents of Jaramana, southeast of Damascus, and fighting later spread to another district near the capital.
But this is the first time the fighting has been reported inside the city of Sweida itself, the provincial capital of the mostly Druze province.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR) reports the fighting was centred in the Maqwas neighbourhood east of Sweida and villages on the western and northern outskirts of the city.
It adds that Syria’s Ministry of Defence has deployed military convoys to the area.
Western nations, including the US and UK, have been increasingly moving towards normalising relations with Syria.
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UK aims to build relationship with Syria
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Read more from Sky News:
UK restores diplomatic ties with Syria
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Concerns among minority groups have intensified following the killing of hundreds of Alawites in March, in apparent retaliation for an earlier attack carried out by Assad loyalists.
That was the deadliest sectarian flare-up in years in Syria, where a 14-year civil war ended with Assad fleeing to Russia after his government was overthrown by rebel forces.
The city of Sweida is in southern Syria, about 24 miles (38km) north of the border with Jordan.
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