Spanish rescue teams have begun a second week of searching for a British teenager missing on the island of Tenerife, as his family warned that an avalanche of online speculation could jeopardise the operation. Jay Slater, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, was last seen in the rugged Rural de Teno national park, where police, firefighters and civil defence volunteers have been using dogs, drones and helicopters to comb the terrain.
While the official search continues, a separate, unofficial investigation has been unfolding online. Thousands of social media users have been poring over satellite images, posting baseless conspiracy theories and, in some cases, deliberate hoaxes about Slater's disappearance. A Facebook group titled 'Jay Slater Discussions and Theories' has attracted almost 288,000 members, featuring claims that range from abduction by Moroccan drugs gangs to suggestions that the disappearance was faked to solicit donations.
Slater's family and friends say the internet interest is compounding their distress. His mother, Debbie Duncan, described the speculation as 'horrible' and revealed that Spanish police had told her the sheer volume of online noise might hamper their work. 'They've said we're investigating all leads,' she said, adding that she believes 'there's something untoward' about her son's disappearance.
The most extreme theories have included a claim that a shark sighting in Gran Canaria was somehow connected, while conspiracy theorist David Icke has asserted that a friend Slater phoned before vanishing does not exist. Some posts have falsely stated that Slater has returned home or that a body has been found, and trolls have impersonated his friends and attempted to hack into his Instagram account. One photograph circulating online, purporting to show a body, was in fact taken in Iceland.
The case echoes the disappearance of Nicola Bulley, also from Lancashire, whose death last year was accompanied by an onslaught of inaccurate speculation on social media. Her family criticised the 'wildly inaccurate' claims, and police were forced to issue a dispersal order to clear YouTube and TikTok influencers from the village where she was last seen.
