What happened to Jay Slater? The theories about missing British teen in Tenerife

Spanish authorities believe there is no evidence of criminality in the case of missing British teenager Jay Slater, according to reports.

The Telegraph reported a judicial source as saying: “There is no evidence of criminality at this stage in this case. That is not to say things will not change, because the case remains open and investigations are ongoing, but right now that’s the situation.”

It comes after police in Tenerife called off the search for Slater on Sunday, 13 days after he went missing on the island. The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared following an attempt to walk back to his accommodation on 17 June.

His friend Lucy Law, one of two people he had travelled to Tenerife with, said Slater told her in a frantic phone call at about 8.30am on 17 June that he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1%”. He has not been heard from since.

Slater's last known location was in the isolated Rural de Teno Park after going back to a rented apartment with two men who, like him, had attended the NRG music festival. According to reports, media were told in a press conference on Saturday they were “not relevant” to the case.

As the search has ended, here are some of the theories surrounding Slater’s disappearance.

Abducted

Despite the assertion there is no evidence of criminality, several people – from his family to ex-police officers – have floated the possibility that Slater was abducted.

Debbie Duncan, Slater's mother who flew to Tenerife on 18 June to join the search, told the Daily Mail on 20 June that she feared her son may have been abducted.

Duncan said: "If anyone does have him, just let him go, he's not a bad person, maybe he's got in with some strangers who've befriended him.

Watch: Jay Slater: Search for missing British teenager in area of Tenerife called off by police

"If he is lost then why hasn't anyone seen him? It's busy with hikers and holidaymakers up there so if he was lost then someone would have seen him, so that's why I think maybe he's been bundled off somewhere."

Livia Karczewski, a volunteer who joined the final day of the search on Saturday, told the Sunday Times she was “unsure how someone could vanish” in this part of the island because of busy roads. She claimed it is “more likely he has been kidnapped”.

Ex-police officer Graham Wettone, who was in the Met Police for 30 years, told Mail Online "lots of things just don't add up" in the case and that Spanish police should be looking into the possibility of criminality.

"I would start again from the beginning and speak to all the witnesses again, my gut feeling is that many of them may not be telling the truth."

Mark Williams-Thomas, a former British detective who has travelled to Tenerife to help with the search, said he believes there are two scenarios: "He has either come to harm himself by simply falling off an edge, or a cliff or something, or there is a third party involved, which is based around some element of criminality.”

Read more: Missing Jay Slater's mum 'believes son was abducted' as search goes on in Tenerife (Nottinghamshire Live)

Got lost

Slater disappeared following an attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus. The walk from his last known location in the north of the island to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.

On 24 June, Slater's father Warren Slater shared a blurry still picture from a security camera in the town of Santiago del Teide of a person in the hope it would help with the search.

Santiago del Teide mayor Emilio Jose Navarro said police had interviewed several people who may have seen him, including some who said they thought they had spotted him on the coast watching Euro 2024 football matches.

British national Tom Beckett, who is familiar with the area where Slater last used his phone and was in Santiago del Teide on Tuesday, said be believed the teenager may not have reached the town.

"Had he been on the road, he would have been seen by numerous tourists. It's a very narrow road so they wouldn't have missed him, they would have seen him."

Read more: Jay Slater: Other people who disappeared on the island where Jay Slater went missing (The Independent)

Injured

It's also a possibility that Slater injured himself at some point after his last phone call. His best friend claimed this week he heard the teenager "sliding on rocks" in their last phone conversation, while Lucy Law said Slater told her he'd cut his leg on a cactus.

Brad Hargreaves believes he is one of last people to have spoken to Slater prior to his disappearance, telling crime journalist Isla Traquair: “He was on the phone and he goes: ‘I’ve got to walk and go all down that road.'”

Slater hung up as “someone else was ringing him” and promised to call back but never did. Law, the last person to speak to Slater, told Sky News shortly after he went missing that he said he had “cut his leg on a cactus and had no idea where he was”.

Click below to see the latest North West headlines

Any injury may have been exacerbated because he was without food and water and had only been wearing a t-shirt and shorts.

"It's very warm in the day and very cold at night," Law said. "So in the day he's going to be really warm without a drink, and then at night he's going to be very cold without any suitable clothing."

Read more: Jay Slater: Officers searching for missing teen rescue 'disorientated' Scottish hiker (Sky News)