A British hiker found by search teams hunting missing raver Jay Slater on the Spanish island of Tenerife has insisted he ‘didn’t need rescuing’ after being tracked down by .
David Larkin, 51, was discovered by police and mountain rescue teams on Friday as they scoured a remote gorge for Jay, 19, who hasn’t been seen for more than a week.
Posting on Facebook, local police described how they had ‘successfully’ found Mr Larkin after locals reported seeing him wandering into mountains a mile from where they were looking for the teenager.
The area around Masca has been a hive of activity since Jay went missing on June 17 with a vast area of the Parque Rural de Teno being searched using helicopters, drones and dogs.
It was during these searches that according to local authorities, a ‘tired and disorientated’ Mr Larkin was found by search teams and ‘helped out of the ravine’ in the Asomada Canyon.
But Mr Larkin said:’ I can tell you now; I wasn’t tired and I wasn’t disoriented, and I didn’t need rescuing.
Sunday June 16: Jay and his friends, including Lucy Mae Law, party at the final day of the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club in the resort of Playa de las Americas, Tenerife.
Monday June 17:
– Between 3am and 6am BST, Jay goes back to an Airbnb with two men after they leave Playa de las Americas in a car.
– 7.30am: Jay shares a photo on his Snapchat account, which shows him standing at the doorway of a house with the location Parque Rural de Teno.
Between 8.30am and 9am: Jay calls Lucy and says he is ‘lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water’ and has missed a bus back south and was attempting to walk. It would take 11 hours.
The call cuts out and the phone’s last location is a path in the rugged Rural de Teno national park, which is popular with hikers.
Grainy CCTV, released on June 24, shows a possible sighting of Jay at Santiago at around 6pm – nearly ten hours after his mobile phone last pinged in the Rural de Teno Park at around 8.50am.
The CCTV is taken close to a church, San Fernando Rey, where Jay’s mother told a man has come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men.
Tuesday June 18: Friends search the area but there is no sign of Jay and he does not return to his accommodation.
Local police and mountain rescue teams start hunting for Jay – and his mother Debbie flies to Tenerife.
Wednesday June 19 – Spanish police use drones, dogs and a helicopter but Jay is not found.
They change their search to Los Cristianos because of a possible sighting, but it is ruled out and they return to Rural de Teno.
Thursday June 20: Guardia Civil, mountain rescue, firefighters and volunteers continue to search the national park.
Friday June 21: Lancashire Police offer support but it is declined by the Spanish police.
Saturday June 22: Search teams continue scouring the national park and Debbie says: ‘We just need you home.’
Sunday June 23: Police examine outbuildings at the bottom of a ravine where his phone last pinged.
Monday June 24: learns Spanish police are investigating whether Jay’s past is relevant. Jay’s family focus on the area of Santiago de Teide – where the grainy CCTV they think is Jay was taken.
‘I think there was a lot lost in translation when they saw him and I explained to them I had water, I was wearing layers, I had my rucksack with food and I’m an experienced hiker.
‘I went into the canyon and I saw the helicopters looking and thought they were looking for the lad but I didn’t for one minute think they would end up picking me up.
‘I think they want to show how good they are, but I certainly didn’t saving. I feel so sorry for the boy’s family and hope he’s found soon.
‘I’m actually embarrassed about this, I had my poles and I know what I’m doing and I knew that if it could get windy I would take shelter in a cave.
‘I know these trails, I’ve been coming here for years, so I know what I’m doing.’
Mr Larkin, who is originally from Northern Ireland but lives in Scotland, is a former director of a housing project based in Hackney, and has worked with the capital’s Fijian community.
He arrived in Tenerife earlier his month and has based himself in a remote one-bedroom hut on the edge of a cliff while going on treks across the park and was eventually taken back by police from Buenavista del Norte, in northern Tenerife.
Mr Larkin added:’ It really is stunningly beautiful round here and I know the place well because I’ve been coming here so often.
‘You have to treat Tenerife with respect, as it can be quite isolated but I know what I’m doing.
‘The mountain rescue people took my picture and then dropped me off, and I’m very grateful but I didn’t need helping and to be honest it extended my day.
‘I did go in through a difficult path, and the trail isn’t that well marked but I do know the way, I managed it and when they came towards me I did explain I was ok.
‘It should have been a two-hour trail and I left just after lunch but didn’t get back until nearly 7pm because they took me the long way.
‘I’m slow and I hike for solitude, but I was fine, I take my time and they ended up rushing me at a pace I found uncomfortable.
‘Like I said I had all the equipment and I think the language barrier was an issue and then the penny dropped they were looking for the missing boy.
‘I don’t want to appear ungrateful, and I thanked them for their concern but I was fine.’
Police said that when the 51-year-old man failed to return to the start point of his walk after several hours, locals alerted mountain rescue teams who were ‘at those moments in the search for the missing young man, Jay Slater’.
A spokesman for the Policia Local Buenavista del Norte said the hiker was found in a ‘difficult’ area that is ‘not suitable for travel’ on Friday, adding: ‘Tired and disoriented, he was located by the agents and the rescue team who helped him get out of the ravine.
‘We want to thank these neighbours for giving alert to this situation because due to the difficulty and lack of communication in the area, this hiker would not have managed to get out by his own means without the help received.’
Meanwhile, Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished on Tenerife last Monday after going back to an Airbnb with two British men he had met while partying on the last night of the three-day NRG music festival.
The last confirmed sighting of Jay was in the village of Masca at around 8am by a woman who had told him the bus back to his accommodation was due at 10am when he asked. She saw him set off on foot for a journey and later drove past him ‘walking fast’.
The teenager was last heard from at around 8.30am when he called his friend Lucy Mae Law to say he was walking back to his accommodation after missing the bus. He told her he was ‘lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water’.
The walk from where Jay’s phone last pinged in the national park to his accommodation would have taken about 11 hours on foot.
He has not been seen or heard from since but hopes were raised yesterday by a new CCTV image of what the family believe could be Jay in Santiago de Teide last Monday at around 6pm – nearly ten hours on from his phone’s last live location.
The grainy CCTV is taken close to a church, San Fernando Rey, where Jay’s mother told on Saturday that a man has come forward to say he saw someone matching her son’s description sitting on a bench with two men.
The sighting has not been confirmed by local police, who say ‘nothing has been ruled out and nothing has been ruled in’, as they continue to focus their efforts on a ravine near where he was last seen.
A source close to the family said: ‘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.’
The church of San Fernando Rey is around 15 miles from the rave venue Jay was partying at and 3.5 miles from where his mobile phone last pinged in the rugged Rural de Teno park, where search efforts have been concentrated.
It comes as Jay’s father accused the Spanish police of keeping the family in the dark over the search for the missing British teenager.
Warren Slater said that although some officers had been ‘brilliant’, he was becoming increasingly frustrated by the lack of communication from others as he desperately tries to find his 19-year-old son.
‘Nobody’s told us,’ he told reporters. ‘The mountain police [have been] brilliant… but I don’t know how the other police [force] works.
‘They could be doing everything but if they are doing [something], they’re not telling us what they’re doing, if you understand what I’m saying.’
Choking back tears as he investigated a new possible CCTV sighting of Jay, he later told Sky News: ‘I’m his dad, I’m supposed to be able to do something for him.’
It comes as Jay’s mother says she’s at her wits’ end with worry – as his friends flew to Tenerife to help with the search for him.
Speaking as the hunt for the apprentice bricklayer entered its ninth day, Debbie Duncan revealed how among those who had travelled to the Spanish holiday island was her son’s former girlfriend, Jessica Ingham.
School finance officer Debbie, 55, told last night: ‘It’s been a week now and it’s been awful. I’ve barely slept and I’m at my wits’ end.
‘The Spanish police are doing a good job and we are getting updated from the consulate so we just put our faith in them.
‘I know people in the UK have come forward as well who were at the festival and they are giving details of what they know but I’m not being told about that.
‘Jay’s very good friends from home have also been over and have put up posters. They are good kids and like me just want him home.’
The friends who were happy to speak to the also lashed furiously at online speculation and said: ‘Imagine if he was your son or brother, think about his poor mum.’
Despite an extensive search by police and mountain rescue teams with dogs, drones and a helicopter there has been no trace since he vanished following a rave in Playa de las Americas in southern Tenerife.
has spoken to four of his closest pals – including Jessica – after they flew out to the Spanish island to help look for him and support his frantic mother and all travelled from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire.
The group spent the weekend combing the harsh and unforgiving terrain of the Masca gorge where his mobile phone ‘pinged’ for the last time seven days ago after he had left a rave with two mystery men.
Engineer Jessica, 19, said: ‘What really gets me is all these online detectives who have got nothing better to do than spread malicious rumours and gossip, it’s not helping the situation.
‘People need to remember he is a missing person, and his mother is absolutely sick with worry and she doesn’t need to read all kinds of rubbish that are being written about him.
‘It’s really awful and these keyboard warriors need to take a step back and think about how Debbie is feeling and imagine if it was their son or brother that was missing, some people have been really hurtful.
‘He’s my ex boyfriend but we still keep in touch and he means a lot not just to me but all of us.’
Sources told that Debbie was in such a state she was ‘on the verge of a breakdown’ after nine days with no news and no leads about her son who disappeared after a rave after party at Playa de las Americas in south Tenerife.
Jay’s best friend warehouse worker James Currie, 19, said: ‘We have just got to keep on hoping that he is out there somewhere. We can’t give up on him. It’s as if a piece of us is missing.
‘We came out here to look for Jay because he is our friend, we’ve known him since primary school, he is our mate and he’s one of us.
‘But we are also out here to support Debbie and his dad and brother. They are in pieces, and they don’t need to read some of this wild speculation that’s out there.
‘He’s my best friend. I love him to bits, we all do and I can tell you if it was one of us missing he would be out there looking for us.
‘This sort of thing doesn’t happen to a lad from Lancashire. It’s like something from Netflix. He’s on his first holiday with his friends and he goes missing, it just doesn’t make sense.’
Bartender Aaliya Duxbury, 19, said: ‘We all just want him home as quickly as possible. He is somewhere on this island and that’s why we came out here to find him.
‘James is right, a piece of us is missing, he makes everyone smile and is such a happy guy, we couldn’t just stay at home and do nothing. He has to come home he just has to.
‘It’s just not the same within him. It just doesn’t seem real, it’s just a nightmare that we want to end and as the others say we don’t need all this awful speculation.
‘These people need to show some empathy and compassion, a person is missing and his mum is worried sick.’
All four spent hours searching the Masca gorge, looking in abandoned shepherd huts and joined Jay’s father Warren, 58, and his brother Zak, 24, when they paid an emotional visit to the scene.
Petrol station attendant Saul Wilkin, 19, said: ‘That was tough to watch. They were in pieces, crying and it set us all off as well when we were up there.
‘Seeing the terrain for ourselves we realised just how harsh it is up there but we have to keep hoping that he is out there somewhere.
‘The place is covered in cactus and the paths are slippery and rocky, we were falling when we were up there and to think our friend is up there is just so upsetting.’
When asked about the possibility of Jay being taken, Jessica immediately said: ‘I’m convinced of it. I don’t see how there has been no sign of him. It makes me think someone has him.
‘The area is busy with hikers and holidaymakers, it’s broad daylight and so someone would have seen him but they haven’t so it can only mean someone has him.
‘I don’t see why he would have come off the road and walked into the ravine it doesn’t make sense and Jay would never let his mobile go down to one percent.
‘There are things that don’t add up but he knows what he’s doing and he wouldn’t go wandering off in the mountains with no battery on his phone.
‘I really do think he’s been taken and whoever has him needs to let him go and get home to his family and friends. We miss him and love him to bits.’
Jessica added: ‘When we met Debbie she was devastated and she gave us all a big hug and it made us feel better and her as we were all together.
‘But no mother should have to go through what she is going through. It’s not fair on her and it wouldn’t be fair on anyone in that position.
‘This was his first foreign holiday, he should be back home at work now with his friends, it’s just awful.’
It emerged on Monday that Spanish police are investigating Jay’s background to determine whether it is ‘relevant’ to his disappearance.
Detectives on the holiday island are trying to determine whether Jay’s disappearance is linked to his criminal past after the Spanish press revealed that he was previously involved in a machete attack that left a man fighting for his life.
Jay was part of an eight strong gang who split the skull of Tom Hilton after he was attacked with a machete, golf clubs and an axe.
Mr Hilton was left with injuries to his head which left his skull exposed as well as wounds to his shoulders and legs in the 2021 attack when he was 17 in Rishton, Lancashire.
In court he described the gang as a ‘pack of wolves’ and he was forced to run for his life through nearby woods before being set upon.
Details of the attack have been posted on social media sites appealing for help in tracking Jay down and many have described his disappearance as ‘karma’.
But in a Facebook message the gang’s victim, Mr Hilton said: ‘Whoever is writing on these TikToks, give it a rest. This young lad’s missing and his family’s heartbroken.
‘Put yourself in their shoes. Stop talking nonsense on social and get this lad found, mentioning my name all this and that.
‘Have some respect and help find this boy and get him back to his family.’
A report of the attack in the Manchester Evening News from last August describes how throughout the case all eight laughed and joked with Judge Philip Parry telling Preston Crown Court they had found the trial ‘amusing’.
Passing sentence Judge Parry said: ‘Many of you have found these proceedings amusing throughout the trial and yesterday and today, showing disrespect to the court.
‘I hope for the sake of all your families, the public and the people who have offered you jobs and apprenticeships and the sort that you all grow up.
‘Every one of you deserves to be sent to youth detention.
‘Some of you played a more active role in the violent disorder than others, some of you carried weapons, some wore balaclavas but the seriousness of the this is the group nature of it.
‘As a group you were all more threatening than you would have been as individuals.’
He added that if they had been convicted of the more serious charge of section 18 wounding, they would all have gone to youth custody.
However, he said he took the rehabilitative approach when sentencing them for violent disorder and further offences including witness intimidation, attempted robbery and conspiracy to supply class A drugs.
Jay was given an 18-month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 150 hours unpaid work for violent disorder – and he went on holiday to Tenerife last week after completing most of his sentence.
Details of his criminal past were reported by El Dia, a local newspaper for the Canary Islands.
The headline read ‘The past of the young British man who disappeared in Tenerife. Slater beat up a teenager along with seven other people.’
They went on to describe in detail the court case adding that he had a ‘black mark in his past’.
Jay’s conviction has led a number of amateur sleuths and psychics spread wild, false and even malicious theories about his disappearance on social media – including the sick idea that he has faked his disappearance to pocket the GoFundMe cash.
Some cruel trolls have even made the unfounded claim that he has been kidnapped after a drugs deal went wrong with criminal enforcers holding him to pay back the debt.
Others have alleged that he lost the drugs or pocketed the money himself and is lying low until the heat dies down.
The speculation was fuelled when, shortly after he vanished, Jay’s mother, school finance officer Debbie Duncan, 55, was sent a menacing Snapchat message that read: ‘Kiss goodbye to your boy, you’re never going to see him again, he owes me a lot of money.’
Spanish police say they are not ‘ruling anything out’ – and a source told : ‘In cases of missing people it’s natural to investigate their background in case it’s relevant to the hunt.
‘This case is unusual as it’s been a week and there has been no sighting or leads on him at all and searches have thrown up no clues.
‘We have to consider the possibility of something else happening.’
His mother Debbie is convinced he has been ‘taken’ and appealed to anyone who was holding him to let him go.
She said: ‘What happened in court is irrelevant, he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. What matters more than anything is that my son is missing and we need to find him.’
Jay is known to have left an end of festival afterparty at around 5am and headed off to the rural village of Masca, 19 miles from Playa des Los Americas in south Tenerife, with two British men.
From there he sent Lucy and his mother two pictures on Snapchat showing him outside the white washed two bedroom farm house and he said he was going to try and make an 11 hour walk back after missing the bus.
The two men who hired the Airbnb have been questioned by Spanish police but have since returned to Britain, much to the amazement of family and friends.
Lucy told that when she tracked the house down and asked the men where Jay was they seemed ‘startled and surprised’ that she had found them and told her he had left to try and catch bus back.
On Saturday Lucy – who set up the GoFundMe page for Jay asking for the specific sum of £30,000 – was questioned at length by police although there is no suggestion that she has any involvement in his disappearance.
However, questions have been raised about the donations and where exactly they are going – especially as Debbie has been added and then removed as a beneficiary several times since the page was opened last Thursday.
One woman named as Charlotte C wrote: ‘Unfortunately I have to donate the minimum of £5 in order to leave a comment. However, I feel this is important to highlight the concerns regarding this GoFundMe.
‘It is essential that all funds going towards Jay Slater’s GoFundMe page are put on hold until further details or evidence from the police are released and pending a thorough and meticulous investigation.’
Another donor Andy S, who also contributed £5, said: ‘I echo Charlotte C’s concerns. I have raised these on numerous platforms (as have many, many others) and no action has been taken.
‘I understand that advice may have been given not to interact but there has not been one update on this GFM to address such concerns. It is not difficult to update the bio.
‘The media have even highlighted the public’s concerns in this respect. Common sense tells me that Organisers/Beneficiaries would have responded to this on this platform at least.
‘The general public have raised almost £30k for this cause which has obviously touched the nation. Therefore, please, please address the points raised. My thoughts remain with those concerned.’
Meanwhile in a Facebook post early on Monday Debbie addressed the concerns over the GoFundMe Page set up for him as which has attracted more than £32,000 in donations.
She said: ‘I really am saddened by all your comments. You seem to be so bothered about this GoFundMe page. I really hope I am not taking my son home in a body bag.
‘The funds are not released and won’t be if not needed. I really cannot believe the British public are not supporting me in trying to find Jay.
‘This may happen to any of you one day. Very let down by you all.’
She later updated the post and said: ‘Update!! Sorry that you have taken this the wrong way. I am overwhelmed with the generosity.
‘What I meant was VERBAL support. I really hope I don’t need this money. If it’s not needed it all gets refunded to the people who really did care.’
Search teams in Tenerife narrowed their efforts over the weekend 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.
Efforts appeared to be solely focused on the one area after days of searches in the village of Masca and the surrounding landscape.
The efforts come after the teenager’s mother issued a direct plea to her missing son, saying: ‘We just need you home.’
Debbie Duncan said she had ‘not slept’ since the 19-year-old disappeared.
Mr Slater was last seen wearing a white T-shirt with shorts and trainers, and carrying a black bag.