TikTok star reveals '3 crucial clues' in hunt for missing Jay Slater as family shares childhood pics
TikTok star Paul Arnott has shared the three crucial clues he's hunting for in the search for missing teen Jay Slater.
The 29 year old from Flitwick, Bedfordshire, has joined the rescue mission in northwest Tenerife to find the 19 year old Lancashire lad who vanished on 17 June. This Morning's Isla Traquair was last week reporting from where Jay was last seen, as she came under fire for flying out to Tenerife.
Meanwhile, another This Morning star believes police have made a 'crucial error' in the hunt for Jay.
Paul is focusing on a call made by Jay to his pals Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves after he left his Airbnb in the village of Masca, saying he planned to walk back to the south of the island - a journey that would take roughly 11 hours.
Shortly after this call, Jay's phone battery died, but Brad believes he heard him slip during the call, indicating rocky and uneven terrain.
Paul revealed that he's spoken to Brad and is now searching for signs of someone slipping, including "breakages in the plant material". He's also been shown a photo of Jay's shoes and has the track on his phone.
"I'm trying to track at the moment. I've spoken to Brad and we know Jay's been sliding down the mountains, so I'm looking for slide marks," Paul told reporters in Masca. "I've been shown his shoes, and I've got a picture of the track on my phone. So I'm looking for any breakages in the plant material. I'm just looking for any evidence that he's been this way."
Paul has over 260K followers under his handle @downtherapids, and ditched a charity do in Scotland to aid in the search, leveraging his mountaineering prowess to reach areas beyond the grasp of rescue drones and dogs, reports the Mirror.
Jay's mate Brad, sharing on This Morning, relayed a chilling account of their video call before Jay's apparent vanishing. He said: "He was on the phone walking down a road and he'd gone over a little bit not a big drop but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said 'I'll ring ya back, I'll ring ya back' because I think someone else was ringing him."
He could see Jay's feet "sliding" down the decline and heard the crunch of gravel underfoot.
Spanish police have stepped up efforts, deploying a "busqueda masiva", or mass search, enlisting local expert volunteers. Assembled by Guardia Civil, the squad includes firefighter groups and rugged terrain aficionados.
Stemming from Masca village, near Jay's last known whereabouts, their search kicked off at 9am and spans steep craggy zones, interspersed with ravines, trails and paths.
