Jay Slater missing: TikTok influencer searching for missing British teenager in Tenerife discovers 'new clue'

It comes two weeks after the 19-year-old vanished in Tenerife. Jay disappeared on the popular holiday island of Tenerife and hasn't been seen since Monday, June 17. The young bricklayer was last seen by his Airbnb host and is believed to have missed a bus that would have taken him to meet friends in the south of the island, a hotspot for British holidaymakers.

Spanish authorities declared on Sunday (30 June) that they would be halting their official search efforts after failing to locate any signs of him. Paul Arnott has remained in Tenerife to continue looking for Jay - and hinted on his social media channel that a discovered pair of sunglasses might be relevant to the case.

He said: "Moving forward a lot of new things have come out due to interviews. There's quite a few things I'm gonna chase up today as well. One is a three words GPS. The other, apart from that, is a pair of sunglasses that were found by a man called Chris, who I'll be meeting up with later today."

The Civil Guard had held a widescale search on Saturday (29 June) urging all available emergency services and qualified volunteers to return to the main search site. However, TikToker Paul Arnott criticised the efforts made at the primary location, as only a smattering of volunteers showed up to assist around 30 professional rescuers and emergency service members.

Paul’s rescue efforts started on 22 June - he left a charity fundraiser behind and pumped hundreds of pounds into flying out to the island to join the search. On Saturday he accused the official search of being a rather overblown PR stunt before it was called off merely a day later.

He vented to his followers: "So, guys, I've literally been waiting for absolutely ages now. This is a massive PR thing, I'm telling you now. I'm gonna ask him in a second to take my name off the list. I'm just gonna go down there and do my thing. I'm gonna do that now, I think. Because there's people everywhere. Literally people everywhere and nobody's doing anything."

Spanish authorities have indicated that there is "no current evidence of criminality" in the case of Jay Slater. A judicial source, who remained anonymous as per usual practice in Spain, commented: "There is no evidence of criminality at this stage in this case. That's not to say things won't change because the case remains open and investigations are ongoing. But right now that's the situation."

The decision by police to halt the mountain search has led many to speculate that they do not believe he is located in the vicinity of the Masca Gorge, an area which was extensively searched with the aid of sniffer dogs, mountain rescue teams, and a helicopter. Despite the lack of concrete proof, Jay's family maintains their belief that he may be held against his will.