A close friend of Jay Slater has paid tribute to the missing teenager hours after the Spanish police announced they had found a body in the Masca area in northwestern Tenerife.
An Instagram account believed to be owned by Brad Hargreaves shared on Monday a message reading: “No words. Nothing be the same without you Rest easy brother love you always”. This caption accompanied a picture showing Brad and Jay lying on an inflatable mattress.
The Instagram account also shared a story featuring only a picture of Jay and Brad and several broken heart emojis.
A TikTok account with the same handle, bradg14233, shared a message on Monday too, thanking people for the support shown. This post stressed Brad had not been given any confirmation about the identity of the body found earlier today.
A month after Jay went missing during his holiday with Lucy and Brad, a spokesman for Spain’s Civil Guard said: “After 29 constant days of searching the lifeless body of the young man has been found in the Masca area.”
The statement stressed the body had not been identified yet, but “everything is pointing to the body being that of the young British man who disappeared on June 17”.
It added: “Initial inquiries are pointing to him having suffered an accident/fall in the area where he was found.”
In the wake of the discovery of a body today, British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global also issued a statement in which it said it was supporting Jay’s distraught family.
The statement also read: “LBT Global is saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater. It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone’s last location.
“Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes. A post mortem and forensic enquiries will follow.”
Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, went missing in mid-June in Tenerife, where he travelled to attend a music festival. The night before his disappearance, the teenager partied at the Papagayo club on Playa de las Americas with his friends.
In the early hours of June 17, he travelled an hour away from his accommodation with two British men, and stayed at their holiday rental for a while before leaving the Airbnb at around 8am to return to Los Cristianos, where he was staying.
After asking about buses to a cafe owner in Masca, Jay set off from the village, seemingly planning to walk back to Los Cristianos despite being several hours away on foot.
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