A TikTok star and his search party have pulled out of the hunt for Jay Slater, claiming he has not received a penny from funds raised to help find the missing teenager.
Callum Fahim has spent two weeks in Tenerife looking for Jay, 19, after contacting his mother online.
However, he was planning to return to the UK today after claiming he and his group have not received any of the money raised to help find the missing teenager.
Money has been pouring in from well-wishers to a GoFundMe page, to help the family search for their missing son.
Almost £50,000 has been raised so far, prompting Jay’s mum to post an update to the GOFundMe page.
In a statement written yesterday, Debbie Duncan thanked Spanish authorities and supporters.
She then wrote: “We are currently looking after Paul Arnett (sic), putting together a package of any equipment and essentials he needs and going up to do a drop for him.
“We are also supporting Callum Fahim and his group with accommodation and other essentials.”
But Mr Fahim, who is in his twenties, claimed in an interview with Sky News that he had received no financial support from Jay’s family.
He said: “I haven’t had anything from the GoFundMe. We have not had a bit of essentials paid for.
“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.”
But Jay’s family have disputed those claims, saying Mr Fahim “came over of his own accord” and “wanted help with accommodation”, while also accusing him of wanting a “free holiday”.
The teen’s family said his mother Debbie gave Mr Fahim £740 of her own money for accommodation.
They added they preferred to save funds to pay for specialist search and rescue teams likely to cost thousands of pounds.
Jay’s family said in a statement: “This is about Jay and he’s still missing and we’ve got people crying about money. It’s nothing to do with money.
“We’re not sat here doing nothing. We’re doing everything we possibly can to find Jay. We can’t go off down hills climbing on our own. We wouldn’t like to be responsible for anyone hurting themselves.”
The apprentice bricklayer went missing on June 17 after deciding to walk back to his holiday accommodation from the village of Masca – roughly an eleven hour trek.
A huge police hunt was launched that went on for 12 days before being called off on June 30.
Jay’s mum said she and her family will stay in Tenerife to continue looking for their missing son.
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