VILE trolls hacked Jay Slater’s Instagram page and memorialised his account before gloating about their sick move.
Jay, 19, has been missing for almost a month after vanishing without a trace in a remote mountainous region of Tenerife.
Social media has been rife with wild claims and mindless armchair detectives peddling conspiracy theories about the apprentice bricklayer’s disappearance.
Jay’s distraught family have also been hounded by warped trolls who have targeted his Instagram account.
His page – which now has more than 70,000 followers – this week had the word “Remembering” above his name.
When clicked on, a note came up saying: “Remembering Jay Slater. This account has been memorialised.
“Memorialised accounts are places to remember and celebrate someone’s life after they’ve passed away.”
It was the latest twisted action of heartless trolls cruelly causing further heartbreak for Jay’s family – who hope Jay is still alive.
Spanish cops have confirmed Jay – who vanished on June 17 – has not been deemed “missing feared dead” yet.
Disgraceful trolls behind the memorialisation even crowed about their tasteless move on an anonymous account with the name 055z.
Shocking posts on their Instragram Stories showed how they had emailed Meta – Instragam’s parent company – to request Jay’s page be memorialised.
They then callously bragged about it as they shared a screenshot of messages they had received slamming their malicious behaviour.
When The Sun brought the issue to Meta’s attention, they confirmed the memorialisation of Jay’s account had been removed.
A spokesman said: “Confirming we have reverted this memorialisation,
“We have also removed @055z for violating our community standards.”
It has caused further heartache for Jay’s devastated family – who remain on the island.
Family friend Rachel Harg said: “We are aware of Jay’s Instagram being hacked.
“Sadly as people may be aware that we are in a world with a large population of rotten of heartless individuals.
“My faith in humanity is a lot less.”
Jay’s furious dad Warren Slater this week blasted shameless trolls sharing far-fetched theories online.
He hit out at amateur sleuths who have taken it upon themselves to try and crack the case from behind their computer screen.
Warren, 58, told The Sun: “Stop, and put your boots on if you want to come out and help. Then write it up.”
Warren is among family and volunteers still scouring the vast Masca ravine for any sign of Jay.
He and Jay’s loved ones were left “blindsided” when police abruptly axed the official search for Jay after less than two weeks.
They have vowed to remain on the island until they get answers.
The Sun yesterday revealed how Jay’s family are looking for a more permanent place to stay. Jay, from Oswardtwistle, Lancs, disappeared on June 17 after a night of partying.
After raving in Playa de las Americas, he travelled in a hire car to the northwest of the island with two British men.
Jay went to their remote Airbnb in the early hours before leaving in the morning to get back to his own holiday accommodation.
But after being told there was not a bus for two hours, he started attempting the 11-trek to his hotel.
Jay made a final call to friend Lucy Law at around 8.50am to say he was lost, needed water, and only had one per cent phone battery.
It was the last time he was heard from, and police are continuing to probe his disappearance.
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 15 marks five weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew out to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, has made headlines around the country.
On Sunday June 16 the three of them headed off to one of the events at Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday 17 – Lucy and Brad were ready to head back to their hotel, but Jay wanted to keep partying.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two British men.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days it was thought that the second mystery man went by the name ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is out in Tenerife investigating, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We don’t yet know the identity of the second man – who remains a key part of the puzzle in Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he drove Jay and the friend back to their accommodation and said they all went to sleep.
In the morning he offered to drive the teen back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims she had a panicked call from him soon after he left the holiday let, telling her he was lost and thirsty, his phone was about to die and that he’d been cut by a cactus.
Jay had been seen by the owner of the Airbnb that morning wandering around near the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous region close-by.
He is believed to have been attempting the 11-hour trek back to his hotel, despite the alleged offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last pinged – and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he left the Airbnb quickly, and was “scared”.
Bizarrely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from an unnamed friend of Jay, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “tracked down” the two men in the Airbnb after he vanished – quizzing them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports have suggested Lucy knew the two men, although it is not clear how.
She has dubbed his disappearance “weird and suspicious”.
Both men were questioned by Spanish cops on June 17 but quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and cleared to fly back to the UK.
Police spent almost two weeks searching for Jay in the Tenerife mountains, scouring a 2,000ft ravine, before calling it off on Sunday June 30.
Jay’s family have repeatedly slammed the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teen’s devastated dad, Warren Slater, says “everything stinks”
He told The Sun: “My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him – and then start from there.”
A number of unanswered questions remain, over why Jay would have travelled so far with two older men he didn’t know, why said men would have taken him in, and why he braved the Tenerife mountains with no phone battery, water or heat protection for a day-long walk
