An inspector has questioned Jay Slater’s best friend’s decision to speak out over a week after he went missing.
Brad Hargreaves emotionally opened up about his last chat with the 19-year-old in which he urged him to get a taxi back to his accommodation.
Hargreaves believes he is one of the last people to have spoken to Slater prior to his disappearance in Tenerife, and he claims he heard him sliding on rocks in their last phone conversation.
Speaking on GB News was inspector Mike Neville, who questioned why Hargreaves opted to wait until now to make the information public.
Mike Neville has discussed the ongoing search efforts
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Asked what he makes of the news, he told Anne Diamond and Stephen Dixon: “It continues the view of the Spanish police.
“There has been all sorts of speculation that there was some kind of drugs involvement in this or a kidnap.
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Mike Neville joined Stephen Dixon and Anne Diamond on GB News
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“Of course, the police will look at every single lead.
“What we have here now is another friend coming forward, seemingly with no ulterior motive to say, ‘look, I had a video call, I could see his feet, he was sliding down some rocks’.
“Why it’s taken so long for him to come forward, I don’t know. But obviously this just gives more credence to the theory that he was on his own.”
Hargreaves told crime journalist Isla Traquair on ITV’s Good Morning Britain: “He was on the phone and he goes: ‘I’ve got to walk and go all down that road’.”
Jay Slater flew from Lancashire to the Canary Islands for a music festival when he disappeared PA WireJay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, hung up as “someone else was ringing him” and promised to call back but never did.
A huge 12-day manhunt has followed with helicopters, drones and search dogs yet to find him.
Hargreaves said he could hear Jay’s feet slide on the rocks, saying his friend “went off the road.. That’s how I knew he went off the road because, you know when you walk on gravel, or whatever it is, you can... you know what I mean, stones.
“He was on the phone walking down a road and he’d gone over a little bit - not a big drop - but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said ‘I’ll ring you back, I’ll ring you back’ because I think someone else was ringing him.
“If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again… He wouldn’t have gone all that way down there.”
