Jay Slater’s best friend has posted an emotional message to the ‘happiest and most smiley person’ after a body was found near where his phone last pinged.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire went missing on June 17, and yesterday Spanish police announced the discovery of a body with Jay’s ‘possessions and clothes’ nearby.
The teenager had jetted off to Tenerife for an eight-day holiday with his best mates Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves before he vanished.
In a heart-wrenching Instagram post published last night Lucy wrote: ‘Honestly lost for words. Always the happiest and most smiley person in the room, you was one of a kind Jay and you’ll be missed more than you know.
‘I’m sure you’ll ‘have your dancing shoes polished and ready’ waiting for us all. We all love you buddy. Fly high.’
It comes as:
Jay Slater’s best friend Lucy Law (right) posted an emotional message to the ‘happiest and most smiley person’ after a body was found near where his phone last pinged
Jay had jetted off to Tenerife for a holiday with best mates Lucy Law (right) and Brad Hargreaves before he vanished
Jay was on his first-ever friends holiday with Lucy Law (pictured) and Brad Hargreaves when he went missing in Tenerife
In a heart-wrenching Instagram post published last night Lucy wrote: ‘Honestly lost for words. Always the happiest and most smiley person in the room, you was one of a kind Jay and you’ll be missed more than you know’
A screenshot of messages between Jay and Lucy, which she posted on her Instagram in tribute to the teenager
Alongside the message she published a collection of pictures and videos of the pair hanging out over the years.
Formal identification has not yet taken place, but officers say that ‘everything is pointing to it being’ the missing teen.
His grief-stricken mother Debbie Duncan, 55, has ‘lots of questions which she hopes will be answered in the coming days,’ a source close to the family said.
‘Debbie is completely devastated,’ the insider told The Sun, adding that the ‘hardest’ part for Duncan is that the remains were ‘found so close to the original search site’.
Brad Hargreaves, who had been helping with the search before flying back to Britain last week, also paid tribute to Jay yesterday.
He posted two snaps of him and his friend alongside a heartfelt message: ‘Nothing be the same without you. Rest easy brother. Love you always.’
Authorities have not yet released the exact location in which they found the body, but it is understood that the remains were discovered in an ‘inaccessible’ and very remote area near the village of Masca.
The Mirror reported that police found Jay’s body a ’20-minute walk’ from where the teenager’s phone last pinged.
A video released on Monday showed police mountain rescue experts moving through difficult terrain on foot, scaling mountains and picking their way through thick undergrowth
Video released by Spanish police shows how mountain rescue experts scoured through ‘inaccessible’ terrain, scaled rock faces and picked their way through scrub and thick undergrowth as they carried out the search
The terrain is described as ‘dense’ and is understood to be full of uneven ground and shrubland. There is also no sign of any emergency services in the nearby village.
The force released video footage of rescuers climbing rock faces and battling through scrub as they carried out the search.
Part of the clip shows two members of the search team being winched out of the area by helicopter after the body had been found and recovered.
While formal identification has not yet taken place, the remains were found with the 19-year-old’s clothes and possessions near his last known location, missing persons charity LBT Global said.
Formal identification has not yet taken place, but officers say that ‘everything is pointing to it being’ the missing teen. Pictured: Lucy and Jay (right)
Lucy posted a tribute to Jay last night, describing him as the ‘happiest person in the room’ after a body was found in an ‘inaccessible’ area near the village of Masca
Jay’s friend Brad Hargreaves, who went on holiday with him and flew back last week, paid a poignant tribute on Instagram on Monday
The post included a string of red broken hearts (seen above)
Brad Hargreaves (pictured) said he spoke to Jay on the phone before he went missing
While the Civil Guard said it had called off the official search after just 13 days, yesterday it was revealed that officials had been carrying on with the search, unbeknownst to anyone in a bid to stop internet sleuths from searching themselves.
‘The discovery was possible thanks to the incessant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard during these 29 days, in which the natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with onlookers,’ a statement read.
Tenerife’s Guardia Civil said on Monday that officers are waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death, which could take a number of days.
Jay could have fallen in the steep and inaccessible area where he was discovered, the force said.
Jessica Rogers, the girlfriend of Jay Slater’s brother, took to social media yesterday to pay tribute to the teenager.
She posted a photograph of Jay with a blue love heart, accompanied by the words: ‘Will love you forever’.
Members of the local community in Lancashire have been tying blue ribbons to posts to symbolise their support during the search.
A local man told the BBC that ‘everybody knows everybody around here’. ‘It’s a shame, everybody wants him home – everybody wants an answer.’
Another local said it has ‘hit the community hard’. He said: ‘He’s a local lad and he’s well known. I feel sorry for the family going through this. It’s hit hard.’
Jay Slater’s family have been informed that human remains have been found in the mountainous area of the Spanish island after a body was found (pictured: Jay Slater with his mother Debbie Duncan)
Part of the clip shows two members of the search team being winched out of the area by helicopter after the body had been found and recovered
A 13-day search by police using drones, dogs and a helicopter failed to find any trace of Jay
The £40-a-night remote Airbnb in the remote village of Masca where Jay spent his final hours before going missing
Jay Slater’s final Snapchat at 7.30am on Monday June 17, taken at remote Airbnb before he went missing
Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan and father Warren Slater leaving the Guardia Civil in Playa de las Americas on July 2
Jessica Rogers shared this image on social media of Jay with the caption: ‘Will love you forever’
Volunteers searching for Jay in Masca after the teenager went missing
Former British army reservist Chris Pennington walks the Masca mountains with the Daily Mail’s Fred Kelly in search of the teenager after he went missing
Questions have been raised about what will happen to the money given by generous strangers after a body was found following a month of searching
The search in the village of Masca, near Mr Slater’s last-known location, took place in a steep rocky area, including ravines, trails and paths.
The teenager had attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance, and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island, which was about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.
He had travelled to a£40-a-night Airbnb in the remote village with the two men, one of whom MailOnline revealed is a convicted drug dealer and the other whose identity is still not yet known, but the two men said to have rented the property were later ruled ‘not relevant’ to the case.
Masca is an hour’s drive from the Papagayo nightclub in the party resort of Playa de las Americas.
LBT Global, which supports the families of British people missing overseas, said: ‘LBT Global is saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater.
‘It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
‘Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes.
‘A post-mortem examination and forensic enquiries will follow.
‘LBT Global are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.’
Supporters raised more than £54,000 to help fund the hunt for the teenager.
Questions have been raised about what will happen to the money given by generous strangers after a body was found following a month of searching.
There has been a flurry of new donations today, with over £1,000 raised in the seven hours since the tragic news was announced.
This brings the total to over £54,500 of the £30,000 target – which was reached within three weeks of the teenager disappearing.
A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Sun it is in ‘regular contact’ with Jay’s family to work out the next steps for dealing with the money over the next few weeks.
The Telegraph reported that the money will be used towards the funeral and repatriation costs.
The family began to withdraw money two weeks ago to help with the search.
Jay’s mother Debbie previously said the money was also being used to support mountain rescue teams, her own accommodation and food costs.
The cash was used to fly in a team of specialist rescue volunteers yesterday as five people and four dogs were deployed, with a sixth person joining today.
The group were sent by the non-profit organisation Signi Zoekhonden, based in the Netherlands, who have about 20 years experience in searching for missing people.
Signi Zoekhonden contacted Mr Slater’s family after reading about the case and promised to deploy drones as part of their search, subject to flight permission being granted by local authorities.
Jay’s family endured conspiracy theories and ‘awful comments’ being posted online during the search for the apprentice bricklayer, including hoax hostage videos.
On Sunday, Ms Duncan said she was aware of the ‘vile’ conspiracy theories about her son and claimed they were ‘hindering’ rescue efforts to find him.
In a statement released through British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global, Ms Duncan said the family was ‘desperate to find our beautiful boy’.
She said: ‘As we approach four weeks of our beautiful Jay’s disappearance, we cannot put into words the heartache we are suffering as a family.
‘Jay is a typical young man who loves life, with a bright future ahead of him. This month will mark the end of his three-year apprenticeship with the world at his feet.
‘He is loved by everyone and has a close bond with his family and many, many friends.’
Ms Duncan criticised the ‘awful comments and conspiracy theories’ posted on social media, which she branded ‘vile’ and said were ‘hindering’ people trying to help locate the teenager.
LBT Global chief executive Matt Searle said ‘horrific things are being posted online, and even sent directly to family and friends’ as he called for an end to ‘the constant barrage of conspiracy theories and wild speculation’.
TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas told The Mirror the family received ‘two videos posted of separate people, meant to be Jay, having been beaten up’.
One clip allegedly featured the ‘We have your son’, with the detective saying it was ‘created for publication by someone wanting to give the impression they had Jay held hostage’.
He explained that ‘within hours’ they had established that Jay was not the individual depicted in the videos.
