'It's something I wouldn't wish on anybody.'
How can someone simply vanish? That’s the question many have been asking since Jay Slater disappeared in Tenerife two weeks ago.
The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last seen walking into the mountains in the island’s northeast, away from where he said he was trying to go.
After two weeks searching with with sniffer dogs, drones and helicopters without a trace, the local police’s mountain rescue unit today called off the search.
One well-placed source said: ‘Nothing of any relevance was found during yesterday’s large-scale search.’
Jay’s family, however, is not ready to give up hope, promising they ‘will continue to search for him’.
The mystery has fuelled conspiracy theories around the fate of the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer, who went missing after attending a post-rave afterparty.
But Jay isn’t the only young man to vanish in Tenerife, where tourists flock for sunny beaches, rugged mountains and ram-packed party strips.
Some have been missing for decades.
Billy Bennett, from Holborn in London, was just 18 when he disappeared during a holiday in Tenerife on December 1, 1985.
Known to frequent the Las Americas resort and the Sergeant Peppers nightclub, Billy was described as looking ‘worse for wear’ when a friend flew out to join him.
He’s lost his money, he had nowhere to stay, and then he vanished. His location remains unknown.
Less than two years later, in October 1987, fellow Londoner Ricky D’Cotta, who worked at Sergeant Peppers, called his family for the last time.
The 23-year-old’s passport and bag were handed to police soon after he was declared missing.
Despite searches, appeals and claimed sightings in both Tenerife and London, Ricky has never been found.
His best friend claimed he was murdered after a botched plan to rob a local drugs baron on the island, where Ricky had been since that March.
It was suspected he may have been one of five bodies police found, by DNA testing with his family’s samples proved inconclusive.
In an eerie parallel, another young man from Lancashire disappeared in June during the Euros – but it was 20 years ago.
Kevin Ainley, 24, was last seen walking toward Playa de las Americas’ Sportsman bar, where he worked as a promoter, in June 2004.
The next day he didn’t show up for work. His passport and belongings were still in his apartment.
But Kevin was never found, even with the help of Lancashire police officers who travelled there.
In 2016, his sister, Gemma Brooke, said: ‘It is no exaggeration to say we have been put through 12 years of hell.
‘Somebody must know something.’
It took two years to find the body of Peter Wilson, 34, after he fell down a steep drop beside a shopping mall in Playa de las Americas in March 2019.
The dad-of-two from Dublin, Ireland, had last been seen near where a taxi dropped him off at the resort.
With his belongings still in his hotel room, and no further sightings, it was feared he’d fallen victim to kidnap or murder, much like conspiracy theories around Jay Slater suggest.
A Facebook group launched by his family, who frequently visited the island, led to no clues. Eventually though, his body was found.
Jacky Wilson, his mother, told the Irish Sunday Mirror: ‘He obviously got disoriented and lost his way.’
These disappearances aren’t limited to Tenerife.
‘It’s the not knowing, it’s a never-ending nightmare, it’s torture, absolute torture, Mark Garland told Sky News.
His son Ben went missing after riding his motorbike to film waves in the north of Ibiza, one of Spain’s Balearic Islands in the Mediterranean, in January 2020.
Ben’s jacket was found in the water three days later, but despite police finding 20 bodies in the water during the search, Ben wasn’t among them.
Mark said: ‘It’s something I wouldn’t wish on anybody.
‘Jay’s parents will be feeling empty, they’re going to be tired. They will be confused, they will just be wanting answers.
‘It’s such a traumatic experience.’
Despite police calling off their active search for Jay Slater, there is still hope he could be found alive.
Ryan Cooney, a 28-year-old from Ireland, vanished after he was allegedly attacked and robbed of his phone and money while on holiday in Tenerife last November.
He had last been seen at an apartment complex in Playa de las Americas, but the only trace of him was his passport in the possession of police.
After several days of desperate appeals, and the arrival of his family in Tenerife, Ryan reappeared.
His friend James Burke said: ‘Words can’t describe how I’m feeling right now. This is unreal, this doesn’t happen. I’m so happy.
‘Thank you so much to everyone, my best mate is found safe, he’s coming home.’
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