A British former police officer with experience in major high-profile investigations has landed in Tenerife to help in the search for missing Jay Slater.
The search for the British 19-year-old who went missing during a holiday last Monday has now entered its second week.
Mark Williams-Thomas, an ex-police officer who helped in the search for missing mother Nicola Bulley last year, reportedly reached out to Mr Slater’s mother offering his assistance.
Speaking to the Mirror, Mr Williams-Thomas said: “Having feet on the ground and looking at the scenario and circumstances, I know I will get to the bottom of this in three days.
“I would quickly be able to establish whether or not there are suspicious circumstances - but I'd need total access to everything and to speak to all the witnesses involved.
"If the family work with me, I will get them answers...I'd need to speak to every witness involved; those that he's been with since he's been on the island. Some people will be more persons of interest than others."
He also said he would “track down” the two men Mr Slater was staying with prior to his disappearance.
Mr Slater’s parents are in Tenerife as the search continues.
On X, Mr Williams-Thomas on Sunday said he had “reached out to missing Jay Slater’s mum offering the help of my team to get her answers as to what has happened to Jay”.
On Monday, he said he was waiting to speak to her mother later that day, but had had word from a relative that she was “keen” to accept his help.
Mr Williams-Thomas worked as a police detective before becoming a private investigator, appearing on TV.
He presented the original ITV documentary The Other Side of Jimmy Savile, which first exposed Savile as a dangerous sexual predator.
He also stars in The Investigator on Netflix, and has probed high-profile missing persons cases including that of Lancashire mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, whose disappearance in January sparked a major police search before she was found to have died after falling into the River Wyre while walking her dog.
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, also in Lancashire, attended the NRG music festival on Tenerife with two friends before his disappearance and was last heard from on Monday last week.
The apprentice bricklayer, 19, disappeared after trying to attempt to walk back to his accommodation after missing a bus.
The walk from Mr Slater’s last known location, Rural de Teno Park in the north of the island, to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.
Lucy Law - one of the two friends he was holidaying with - was the last person to hear from him.
She said Mr Slater had called her around 8.30am on Monday, saying he was “lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on one per cent”.
A major search has since been taking place on Tenerife, particularly in a ravine which is understood to be his last known location.
On Monday, a CCTV image emerged that was thought to be a potential new sighting of the missing teenager 10 hours after his phone’s last live location.
The CCTV was taken in Santiago de Teide close to a church where Jay’s mother said previously that a man has come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men.
The man believes he saw Jay sat on a bench near the San Fernando Rey church looking “a bit worse for wear” around the same time on Monday evening.
A source close to the family told MailOnline of the CCTV: “It looks like him and is certainly a man’s shape but we just don’t know. It was taken near the church where a witness says he saw him so we have to keep hoping.”
Over the weekend the search for Mr Slater was focused on small buildings close to where his phone last pinged.
Officers from the Guardia Civil in the Canary Islands could be seen circling two structures at the bottom of a ravine in Rural de Teno Park on Sunday.
Previous days saw searches carried out in the village of Masca and the surrounding landscape.
Mr Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, issued a direct plea to her missing son over the weekend, saying: “We just need you home.”
Debbie Duncan said she had “not slept” since the 19-year-old disappeared.
Lancashire Constabulary said it made “an offer of support to the Guardia Civil to see if they need any additional resources”, which was rejected by Spanish authorities.
Ms Duncan said: “I believe they said they’ve got enough resources and they don’t need the help from English police.”
Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers, and carrying a black bag.
