A FORMER cop has revealed the two crucial steps that must be taken in the search for missing Brit Jay Slater.
Missing person expert Charlie Hedges also warned about the risks of online sleuths and amateur detectives trying to crack the case.
A major search has entered its fifth day in Tenerife to locate the 19-year-old who vanished after a rave on Sunday night.
Helicopters, drones and dogs have been scouring the island since Monday with search crews now focusing their efforts on the 2,000ft Masca ravine in the north.
Speaking to The Sun, ex-detective Hedges explained there are two crucial steps that need to be taken to help the search for Jay.
He said they first need to construct a profile of Jay – from everything from his personality to his fitness – to try figure out his thinking.
Cops will need use this to work out where he may have gone after the Airbnb he stayed in on Sunday night before he vanished was identified.
By reconstructing how Jay may think they will be able to narrow down the search area.
He said: “One is on the investigation side to investigate or understand Jay, what his personality is, what he’s like, fitness, what he was doing – w know he was at the party and moved off.
“And then also look at the last place he was seen, which gives us the first start for the search.
“And then looking at different hypotheses to just try and determine what might have happened.”
When it comes to the search he thinks Spanish investigators “seem to have used a good range of resources and put a lot of effort into it” with helicopters, drones, dogs and people on the ground.”
He said: “I think that would be the main working hypothesis that he walked off, got lost became dehydrated, and succumbed to the elements, or fall.
He noted however it should not be the only line of inquiry and all aspects of his disappearance need to be investigated and “make sure nothing is missed.”
Hedges, who worked for Thams Valley Police, warned online sleuths to leave the search for the missing teen to the professionals as they may harm the investigation instead of helping.
He urged the public not to take it upon themselves to help the search as he noted despite their best intentions they may end up causing more trouble.
He said: “Information from the public witnesses, and so on, can be critical. In these investigations, we would always be looking to find what other people may have seen.
“Speculation and rumour doesn’t help.
“I know we’ve seen a lot of that with recent cases, with people getting on social media and making all sorts of speculations about that, probably not even thinking about the impact that will have on the family, and those left behind are already in a very difficult situation.
“And also then going to be involved in the search.
“Ideally, the primary search should be left to professionals who have the right training, experience, and equipment to go into those areas.
“And sometimes people can, with the right intentions, go into there and get themselves into difficulty and add to the problems.
“So it needs to be very much under the control of the local police.”
Jay’s last known location was the Teno Rural Park – a 10-hour walk from his accommodation in Los Cristianos.
The apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, had been to the NRG festival with two friends before leaving the club with two men he had met that evening.
The next morning he left the remote property and called friend Lucy Law, telling her his phone was about to die and he was stranded in the middle of nowhere.
It comes as…
As the hunt goes on for a fifth day, the two mystery men who Jay was last with have not broken their silence and are understood to have since left the island to return to the UK.
Jay’s distraught mum shared a twisted Snapchat she was sent as she touched down in Tenerife – telling her to “kiss goodbye to your son”.
Hedges stressed the importance of thinking about the family living the “most horrendous situation.”
“But unfortunately, there are some people who are malicious and unpleasant, and I’ve seen it in lots of cases, whether it just has such a bad effect on the family, and it’s just not needed.
“Just being left not knowing, having no answers worrying about what’s happened to your son, daughter, or loved persons is the most incredibly difficult situation to be in, and I think we must remember that and be sympathetic to the family.
“And ultimately they should be left in a position where they can whatever the outcome, they know that everything that could be done has been done.”
