Jay Slater’s mother has shared the family’s “pain and agony” following the disappearance of her “beautiful boy”.

The 19-year-old was last heard from in the northwest of Tenerife after staying at an Airbnb in Masca on June 17. He told a friend Lucy Law that he was planning to walk back to the south of the island before his phone battery went dead.

Debbie Duncan has spoken today through the British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global after the Tenerife search for her missing son has so far yielded no results.

In her first public comment, she said, “My son, Jay Dean Slater, came to the holiday island of Tenerife on the 13th of June with his friend to attend a music festival.

“On the 17th of June after not returning to his apartment he was reported as a missing person. Jay is a normal guy who is in his 3rd year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.”

“We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing. He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him.”

The heartbroken mum then gave an update the search and investigation into her son’s disappearance.

She said: “We do not have any information on his whereabouts. The Guardia Civil have worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay’s last phone call was traced. They conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available.

“Although the land search ended, the Spanish police still continued with their investigations into why Jay had travelled to the location so far away from his accommodation.

“We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of enquiries. We would like to say to the press/news/reporters, that although we do not want to lose the momentum of Jay’s disappearance, we really would like to maintain our privacy and crucially let the Spanish police get on with their investigations without hindrance from the press.

“We are aware of the conspiracy theories and speculation on social media and some websites, and can only describe this as vile, the negative comments are extremely distressing to our family. We also embrace the love and support we have received from across the globe. It has not gone unnoticed, especially in his home town in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire. As a family, we would like the world to respect our privacy at this present time.”

Police called off the search for the missing teen on Sunday but authorities have said they are continuing to follow investigations into his disappearance.