TikTok investigator quits Jay Slater search and claims he 'never got GoFundMe money'
TikTok sensation Callum Fahim has made plans to return home following a stint in Tenerife, Spain, where he hoped to assist in the search for missing Jay Slater. Suggesting he hasn't seen a penny of the GoFundMe donations raised towards the mission, Fahim intends to leave the island after his two-week stay.
Callum Fahim jetted off to Tenerife after getting in touch with Jay Slaters mum, Debbie Duncan, online. As of Thursday 4 July, Jay's family GoFundMe page has raised a staggering £49,507, well above their original goal of £30,000.
Debbie issued an enormous thank you message on the fundraising page to all who have shown them support, explaining where the donated funds will go towards the rescue teams and volunteers tirelessly working in the hunt for Jay.
However, Fahim gave Sky News the scoop that he himself hasn't touched any of the cash gathered. Fahim revealed: "I haven't had anything from the GoFundMe. We have not had a bit of essentials paid for."
He continued: "I've never had any money from them whatsoever or even offers to go and pick anything up. If they had offered it, personally I would've said maybe a bit of a treat at the end of the week, but don't worry about it," reports the Manchester Evening News.
In an interview with Sky News, Mr. Fahim explained that he put his own money towards the flight to Tenerife. He admitted that after having a "long chat" with Ms. Duncan, he has decided to take a step back.
Expressing concern, he said: "It's getting very out of control. The situation here is very dangerous at the moment."
"I have had death threats. I had a long conversation with her [Ms Duncan] and decided I'm withdrawing."
Nineteen year old Jay from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire has been missing since Monday 17 June while on a holiday on the Spanish island. The lad was last spotted leaving a vacation home in the northern area of Tenerife near Masca village, in the early morning.
Jay was hanging out on the trip with companions Lucy Law, 18 and Brad Hargreaves, 19. They partied at Papagayo Nightclub in Playa de las Americas before he left the party with two other Brits to go back to their rented accommodation.
According to reports, his last known location was Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island, which is a long 11-hour trek back to where he had been staying.
On Thursday 4 July, Debbie, Jay's mother, issued a statement expressing her outrage at online trolls spinning conspiracy theories around her son's unsettling disappearance, emphasising that the family weren't in Tenerife for a holiday.
TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas, who has joined the search mission in Tenerife, disclosed earlier this week that the teen allegedly stolen a £12,000 Rolex before his puzzling disappearance and was "scared" when he departed the Airbnb.
The person who last saw Jay alive, Ayub Qassim, one of the men who invited him back to the Airbnb, has now broken his silence over the British teenager's disappearance, stating: "He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive."
"I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him. I know Jay, through friends, I'm not going to bring someone back to mine if I don't know them," he added.
After almost two weeks of extensive searching in the challenging and mountainous area, the police ceased the ground search for the missing teenager earlier this week. On Sunday 30 June, they announced that while officers will still respond to any new leads or information received, the active search efforts that have been in place since the apprentice bricklayer was reported missing will come to a halt.
