Jay Slater could have 'slipped on rocks' during final phone call with friend

His last location showed he was in the Rural de Teno Park - an area popular among hikers.

Slater received a call from his friend Lucy Law before 9am local time and admitted to her that his phone had only one per cent battery, he was thirsty and he did not know where he was.

However, Hargreaves has now admitted that he too received a video call from Slater on the morning he vanished.

“He was on the phone and he goes, 'I'm not walking down all around that road’ and he's gone over like a little... not a big drop but a tiny little drop going down there,” Hargreaves told This Morning in Tenerife.

“He goes ‘I'll ring you back, I'll ring you back’. I think someone else was ringing him.

“Thinking like me, he would have went back up and started walking around the path again, he wouldn't have gone all that way down there.”

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Hargreaves was then asked what he saw on the video call and whether he could hear rocks falling.

He continued: “Yeah 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.”

The reporter then questioned whether he was concerned for his friend at the time.

Hargreaves said: “Not at the time because we were both, like, laughing about it. He said: ‘Look where I am’.

“He didn't seem concerned on the phone until he knew how far away he was.

“I said, ‘Put your location on.’ He said, ‘15 minute drive, fourteen-hour walk.’ I don't know if it's accurate or not so I said to him: ‘It's only a 15-minute drive, get a taxi.’

Speaking to GB News about this latest development in the mystery, Mike Neville, former head of Lambeth Missing Persons Unit, questioned why it had taken Hargreaves so long to come forward with the seemingly vital evidence.

He told hosts Anne Diamond and Stephen Dixon: “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 and some kind of accident happened.”

The latest comments also come as volunteers are today joining Spanish Police to conduct a large-scale search of the area.

The search will take place in Masca - a village where rescue teams have focused their efforts - on Saturday.

In a statement, police said: “The Guardia Civil is preparing and coordinating a large search to find the young British man missing in the village of Masca.

“We are requesting collaboration of all volunteer associations: Civil Protection, Fire Department etc, and including private expert volunteers in the difficult search terrain.

“Due to the disappearance since the afternoon/night of last June 17 of the 19-year-old British man in the area of Masca, part of the municipality of Buenavista del Norte, the Guardia Civil is about to undertake a massive search operation.”

They added: “Considering that this is a difficult, rocky terrain, with many steep inclines and cliffs, footpaths and roads, we request the help of all those volunteer associations that may help in the operation we intend to lead and coordinate.”

The search began at 9am local time on June 29 with volunteers searching roads, footpaths, and cliffs in the village.