Jay, 19, had been partying in Tenerife with Lucy Lo, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, for the NRG festival before he went missing on June 17.
The night before the apprentice bricklayer disappeared, the three friends had been partying at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas.
Jay’s friends have already left Tenerife and returned to the UK – Lucy reportedly returned last week, while Brad left on Sunday with his mother Rachel, who is running a social media campaign about Jay.
They haven’t made any public announcements recently, apart from Lucy posting a selfie with Jay on Instagram with a crying emoji and a blue heart.
British reports said Jay’s uncle, Glenn Duncan, was also believed to have boarded the plane on Tuesday, after expressing displeasure with Spain’s efforts to search for his nephew.
Lucy’s Instagram post
Brad previously told ITV he “didn’t want to leave Tenerife” because he had arrived with a friend, who he said “feels like he’s still there somewhere”.
Ahead of the interview, Hargreaves said: “We’re not drug mules or anything… people need to know the facts before they go on the internet and say nasty things…”
“We were both laughing and he said, ‘Look where I am,’ and I said, ‘I just got back from the festival.’ He didn’t seem concerned on the phone until he realised how far away he was.
“I said, ‘Set your location,’ and he said, ’50 minutes by car or 14 hours by foot.’
ITV’s Brad Hargreaves
Meanwhile, Detective Mike Neville, a former Metropolitan police missing persons detective, said: “My personal view is that the culprit is in a park somewhere, probably drugged, probably drunk, confused and exhausted.”
“There’s a lot of background noise out there. If we find out someone was with a convicted drug dealer, we need to investigate.”
“It seems like the police were too quick to dismiss this and call it a conspiracy theory.
“Jay was initially portrayed as a young man on his first holiday but it turned out he had ended up being convicted of assault.
“Police should not just search the park, they should look into the background and ask, ‘Is there anything else going on?'”
“Apparently they didn’t, so in that sense it was a poor response.”
A private investigator also urged Jay Slater’s family to “not give up hope”, suggesting Slater could still be alive, drinking “rainwater” and eating “plants”.
Juan Garcia, an Army reservist and private investigator, said he has been in contact with Jay Slater’s family and told The Times that “it’s premature to conclude the search after two weeks.”
“He may be alive somewhere. Someone can drink rainwater and eat plants. The family should not give up hope.”
