SPANISH police hunting for Jay Slater were forced to search in secret as amateur sleuths risked disrupting the case.
A body was yesterday found close to where the 19-year-old went missing in a mountainous region of Tenerife after 29 days.
Dramatic footage showed the moment a helicopter crewman was winched into the chasm with his arms aloft in the delicate recovery operation.
The Guardia Civil said that “initial evidence” suggested the person found had “suffered an accident or fall in the inaccessible zone”.
Detectives are certain it is the body found in a ravine in Masca of apprentice bricklayer Jay, but formal identification is yet to take place.
Cops in Tenerife had so far remained tight-lipped about their investigation – sparking a barrage of online speculation.
Social media was rife with armchair detectives peddling vile conspiracy theories and hounding Jay’s devastated family.
Some amateur sleuths even took it upon themselves to fly to the island in a bid to crack the case themselves.
It fuelled cops to keep their work even more private as they refused to add to the “circus” caused by trolls and wannabe sleuths, police sources say.
The source told The Sun: “For many of the officers in Tenerife, they’d never dealt with a missing persons’ case like this.
“There were so many armchair detectives offering theories, and people arriving on the Island who said they could solve the mystery.
“They had no interest in feeding that.”
Spanish police had given little update since they announced the official daily search was being axed after less than two weeks.
Jay’s distraught family became frustrated at the lack of answers, with dad Warren Slater saying: “Everything stinks.”
The teen’s loved ones – including mum Debbie Duncan, 55, dad Warren, 58, and brother Zak, 24 – were yesterday left devastated when police located a body.
They are now demanding answers over how it took police 29 days to find remains just yards from Jay’s last known location.
The source added: “The police have always remained committed to finding Jay.
“They’ve never been interested in giving a running commentary, but the case was always open, never closed. And work was going on all the time to try and bring answers that would solve what happened to Jay.
What we know
“Officers knew, in the end, it was local knowledge and the cops who knew the area who would finally get to the bottom of what happened – and that’s what proved to be the case.
“Of course, the family’s frustration was understandable, but officers were determined not to add to the frenzy by constantly talking publicly about the case.”
Police in Tenerife are now trying to piece together Jay’s final movements after he left a remote Airbnb in Masca.
The insider added: “They are committed to finding out what happened in Jay’s final hours.
“This is important because they want the family to at least have the answers they rightly want surrounding how Jay came to lose his life.”
Jay’s mum Debbie, dad Warren and brother Zak vowed to stay in Tenerife until they have answers.
THE grim discovery of a body comes after weeks of agony for Jay’s friends and family. Here is how the events unfolded:
Sunday, June 16: Jay and his friends party at the last day of NRG music festival being held at Papagayo night club in Playa de la Americas, Tenerife.
June 17 3-6am: Jay leaves with Ayub Qassim and another man for a £40-a-night Airbnb 23 miles away in the village of Masca.
7.30am: Jay shares a photo on Snapchat standing at doorway of the Airbnb.
8.50am: He calls pal Lucy Mae Law and says he is “lost in the middle of nowhere” with no water, a cut to his leg and one per cent on his phone.
Tuesday, June 18: Pals search area but no sign of Jay. Local cops and mountain rescue teams start official search. Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan flies to Tenerife.
June 19-20: Spanish police deploy drones, dogs and a helicopter, but find no trace. Search moves to Los Cristianos amid possible sighting, but it is ruled out and they return to Rural de Teno, near Masca.
June 21: Lancashire Police offer support but it is declined.
June 22: Mum Debbie issues emotional appeal to Jay saying “We just need you home.”
June 24: Claims of Jay sighting in Santiago del Teide — near to where he disappeared — and family believe a grainy CCTV image could be of him.
June 25: Debbie issues plea for her son to come home as more friends fly out and TV investigator Mark Williams- Thomas joins search.
June 29: Cops rule Mr Qassim, and other man at Airbnb, out of investigation.
June 30: Spanish cops officially suspend hunt but say probe “remains open”. His family continue to search.
Yesterday: A body is found by helicopter search team close to where his phone last pinged. His possessions are discovered next to human remains. Spanish cops say it points to an “accidental fall”.
A family source told The Sun: “Debbie is completely devastated.
“It’s the news they’ve all been dreading. She has a lot of questions which she hopes will be answered in the coming days.
“It hasn’t completely sunk in yet. The hardest thing for her is to hear he was found so close to the original search site. It’s hard to take.
“It means it’s entirely possible they have walked past his body whilst searching for him.
“It seems incredible so many people walked that area and yet he was so close. As we have seen with mountainous terrain and ravines, it does happen — no matter how hard that is to believe.”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, vanished on June 17.
He was on holiday with Brad and friend Lucy Law, who said she is “lost for words” in a heartbreaking tribute.
Jay had gone in the early hours with two men to their Airbnb in the north of the Canary Island after leaving a music festival at a nightclub.
Later that morning he called Lucy from near remote Masca village to say he was thirsty and his phone battery was nearly dead.
His mobile cut out at 8.50am near a hiking trail in the Rural de Teno national park — an 11-hour trek from his apartment in the south of the island.
Police combed the area for 12 days using a helicopter, drones and dogs.
To the family’s dismay the full search was suspended on June 29.
But Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak and uncle Glen Duncan, 41, continued to hunt for him.
The body was spotted yesterday at around 10am by members of the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group close to where his phone last pinged in an area too steep to access on foot.
The Guardia Civil said in its statement: “After 29 constant days of searching, the lifeless body of the young man has been found in the Masca area.
“Given the complexity of the case the discovery has been possible thanks to the tireless and discreet search . . . in which the natural space was preserved.#
“The body of the young person was found in a very inaccessible area. The results of the autopsy are awaiting confirmation it is an accident.
“The large-scale operation involving multiple units had been suspended but, as we always said, we never stopped looking for Jay.
“The mountain rescue group continued looking for the missing man when they were on duty.
“We’ve always said the terrain is very difficult and the search was complicated.”
