Jay Slater’s uncle has opened up about fresh concerns about his nephew being “afraid of someone” before he vanished.
Glen Duncan, 41, who is the brother of Jay’s mother Debbie, joined the search alongside other members of the family.
The Slaters, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, were assisting local search terms in blistering 25C conditions.
Local police halted the official search on June 30, just weeks after Slater disappeared on June 17.
Jay Slater has been missing on Tenerife for more than two weeksGetty/PASpeaking about the situation, Duncan said: "It's so easy to get lost down there.
“There was a group of us and you can't see anybody.
"It got to a point where I wasn't even looking for my nephew, I was just trying to find my own way out to safety.
“If he has wandered off I just can't see how he would wander all the way down there.
“When you're lost you stick to a path. I don't know if he was afraid of someone or something."
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Search for Jay SlaterREUTERSHowever, Duncan also addressed a number of conspiracy theories cropping up on social media.
He said: "I'm not on social media or anything so I can just block it out.
“It's the world we live in. If he's gone on a trail like a path like this and he's got lost there or fallen down I think he would have been found by now.
“I've been thinking third party involvement from the start.
“There's just some things that have already been out there.
“Why would two lads hire a villa up here? They're down on the strip, you know what it's like down there."
Jay Slater went missing in Tenerife on June 17PA Former Lambeth Missing Persons Unit boss Mike Neville yesterday explained his “personal theory” regarding Slater.
Speaking on GB News, Neville said: “My personal theory is, he’s in that park somewhere. He’s taken some substances possibly and had some drink, he’s confused and exhausted.
“There’s all that background noise as well. When you know that somebody stayed with someone who is a convicted drug dealer, then you need to look into it.
“The police have seemingly been too quick to dismiss this and say things are conspiracy theories.
“It was initially portrayed as Jay being a young lad on his first holiday but it turns out he’s been convicted of a violent assault.
“As well as a search of the park, the police should be looking at the background and asking is there anything else going on
“They don’t seem to have done that. It’s been badly handled in that sense.”
