Jay Slater missing update: Friend says Tenerife teen could be in ...

Jay Slater’s stepfather Andy Watson has thrown doubt on the suggestion the teenager would have attempted to walk several hours back to his accommodation.

Speaking to MailOnline, he said: “He has me run him down to the hairdressers, 200 yards away - why would he walk eight hours?

“Who lives in the mountains? It would be wrong to speculate, but everyone has their own impression in their head. I wouldn’t have gone off with two people I didn’t know. But he’s 19, he’s impressionable, isn’t he? If someone said there’s more drink at our house, he’s going to go.”

A young British man has been reported missing while on holiday with his friends in Tenerife.

Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, was last heard from at around 8am GMT on Monday.

The Foreign Office confirmed it is supporting the family of a British man who has been reported missing in Spain.

Matt Mathers reports:

Community members and friends of missing teenager Jay Slater gathered at a church in his hometown as the search continued.

Friends, family members, and people from the local community arrived at the West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle, where Mr Slater lived, to show their support for the search and pray for his return.

The friends of the British teen tied blue ribbons to mark a service of hope and left messages.

A friend of Mr Slater who attended the church event told Sky News that he is the “life and soul of the party”. “Everywhere you see him he’s just constantly got a smile on his face. He’s always just a happy chap.”

“He’s just one of a kind really,” they added.

Another friend said they are at a loss for words and can’t seem to understand what and why has this happened to him.

“We feel like we can’t do anything about it because we’re over here and he’s over there. If we could get a flight tomorrow we would do,” the friend said.

Jay Slater’s friend has called for British police to be involved in the investigation, after the search continued for a fourth day with little sign of the teenager.

Speaking to the Mirror, Lucy Law said: “We need British police here. I just want to find my mate. He’s been missing three days. It’s not looking good now. We feel as though it’s down to us to find him and that we’re doing more than the police.

“The police here don’t speak English and don’t even have a translator after three days. I feel like they’re fobbing me off. They’re still asking me the same questions as when I first reported Jay missing.”

She added: “The two boys that he was last with have left the country. They need to be questioned by British police.”

A fundraiser launched to help with the search for missing Jay Slater has now reached more than £20,000.

The GoFundMe page was set up on Thursday by one of the friends he travelled to Tenerife with.

The mother of a British teenager who has gone missing during a holiday in Tenerife said having to search for her son has been “horrendous”.

Jay Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last heard from on Monday morning as he told a friend he planned to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus, a journey expected to take around 11 hours on foot.

Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, flew to Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands on Tuesday morning to search for him.

Sam Hall has the full story: