POLICE made a crucial mistake in their search for missing British teenager Jay Slater, a former Met detective claims.
Steve Gaskin, Detective Chief Inspector for more than 25 years, believes important evidence in the search may have been missed.
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Jay Slater is missing after disappearing while on holiday in Tenerife Credit: Ian Whittaker
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Former Detective Inspector Steve Gaskin has revealed he thinks a key mistake may have been made in the search for JayCredit: Linkedin
He also revealed he believed things were “not looking good” for the 19-year-old who went missing in Tenerife last Monday.
Mr. Gaskin told what he would have done differently if he had been leading the search for Jay.
He told the Mirror that he would treat the investigation as a homicide from the outset to avoid losing vital evidence in the crucial first 24 hours of the disappearance.
Mr Gaskin said that if he had been the SIO – a senior investigating officer – when Jay’s missing person report came to the police, he would have had to decide immediately whether to treat it as a missing person investigation or a homicide case.
He added that if he wasn’t sure, he would always be cautious and decided to treat it as a case of murder.
The former detective explained to the Mirror that if police were treating the disappearance as a homicide from the start, then if it wasn’t “nothing is lost”.
He stressed that the police only have about 24 hours to collect forensic evidence before it is too late.
Mr Gaskin said: “I’d like to know what he had for breakfast. Why the 19-year-old bricklayer disappeared, what he was doing there, I’d like to know everything about him, who was the last person to see him, check all their backgrounds.”
He added that he will speak to the British police and find out if Jay has a criminal record and what else they know about him.
Mr Gaskin spoke of the importance of getting a “clear factual picture” as quickly as possible and said: “The longer this goes on, the more likely you are to suspect a criminal element.
“It doesn’t look good after all this time.”
Missing Jay Slater spotted staggering back to his feet in front of worried clubgoers in shock new video at Tenerife rave
The father of three worked on the case of serial killer Levi Bellfield and now runs The Crime Lab with his wife, former detective Kate Gaskin.
He draws on his decades of experience investigating murders to satisfy the public’s appetite for true crime.
Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has been missing on the island since Monday.
He was last seen by the Airbnb owner and is thought to have missed a bus to visit friends in the south of the island, a British tourist hotspot.
Today, officers looking for Jay have expanded their search to the “vast” barren landscape north of where he was last seen.
It came after the 19-year-old’s father Warren pleaded for his son’s safe return and called on rescue teams to expand the operation.
Crews were focused on Masca Gorge near where Jay, from Lancashire, made his last frantic call to friend Lucy Law last Monday morning.
He told his friend that he was lost in the middle of nowhere with no water and only had one percent of battery on his phone.
He had been to a rave the night before with his friends Lucy and Brad, but left the club with two men he met that night.
The Lancashire teenager has returned to his Airbnb in the unforgiving mountain area near the village of Masca.
After leaving their accommodation, Jay missed the bus home on Monday morning and faced a 10-hour walk.
The teenager’s worried family believe he was caught on camera ten hours after he was last heard from in Tenerife.
They think they may have seen him in the village of Santiago del Teide – near the desolate Rural de Teno park where Jay’s phone last rang.
The grainy footage shows a figure walking past a church about 7km from the village of Masca where Jay disappeared a week ago.
It comes as Jay’s heartbroken mum slammed internet trolls who questioned what the £33,000 GoFundMe donation would be used for.
Online detectives have now started looking into parts of the case – infuriating Jay’s distraught mum Debbie Duncan.
Debbie slammed the cruel conspiracy theorists – saying she felt “very disappointed”.
Timeline of Jay Slater’s disappearance
Ellie Doughty, foreign news reporter
SUNDAY, JUNE 16 – MONDAY, JUNE 17
Jay is going to rave at the 2024 NRG music festival in Tenerife, around Arona in the south of the island
20.35 – Jay posts a smiling Snapchat video of himself laughing with friends
He leaves the rave with two men he met that day and is taken back to their accommodation on the other side of the island
MONDAY 17
7.30am – Jay posts a Snapchat of his hand holding a cigarette in the area where he was staying – near Rural Park de Teno in the north of the island
8.30am – Jay calls his friend Lucy Law and tells her he’s missed the bus, has 1% battery left on his phone and is stuck in the “middle of nowhere”.
9am – A missing persons report is filed and the search for Jay begins
TUESDAY 18
2am – The police knock on the door of Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan’s home and tell her to catch the first flight to Tenerife
7am – She flies from Manchester Airport along with her son Zak to help with the search
Debbie was sent a Snapchat message that read: “Kiss your boy goodbye, you’ll never see him again, he owes me a lot of money.”
WEDNESDAY 19
12:30 – After a false sighting, the police briefly move the search to the south of the island
Cops search his hotel room for clues as his mum says ‘there was nothing wrong’
Debbie gives heart-wrenching interview in which she talks about fears he was “kidnapped” and says “I just want my baby back”
THURSDAY 20
Officers begin the fourth day of a massive manhunt for Jay
FRIDAY 21
Lancashire police are offering to help in the search, but Tenerife authorities say they are “pleased to have the resources they need”.
The search moves to the 22,000-foot gorge in Masca – part of the area locals call “the wasteland”.
SATURDAY 22
The sixth day of the search begins as sniffer dogs, police officers, mountain rescue services and firefighters once again take to the hills of northern Tenerife
A possible new sighting of Jay placed him near a church with two men at 6pm on Monday – although police have not confirmed
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak visit the search site in Tenerife
SUNDAY 23
Officers are focusing their search on small outbuildings in Parc de Teno near where Jay’s phone last pinged
Jay’s mum Debbie says trolls are comparing her to Karen Matthews
A GoFundMe set up by Jay’s friend Lucy has surpassed £30,000 after just three days
Exclusive Sun footage shows Jay falling and stumbling back to the rave before disappearing
MONDAY 24
The search for Jay enters its eighth day
Police are expanding the search area north to parts of Buenavista del Norte
A GoFundMe page set up by close friend Lucy Law surpassed its £30,000 target within days – but some questioned what the money would be used for.
Debbie said: “I’m really saddened by all of your comments. It seems like this GoFundMe page bothers you so much.
“I really hope I’m not carrying my son home in a body bag.
“I really can’t believe that the British public is not supporting me in trying to find Jay.
“This could happen to any of you one day. You are all very disappointed.”
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Gaskin believes the teenager’s disappearance should have been treated as a homicide investigation from the startCredit: Pixel8000
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Jay Slater’s family have shared a grainy CCTV image they believe could be him
Categories: Optical Illusion
Source: HIS Education