Former Scotland Yard detective Peter Bleksley has pointed out six flaws in the search for missing teenager Jay Slater and criticised Tenerife’s Guardia Civil for their handling of the case.
Bleksley highlighted the authorities’ lack of effective communication with the media, which he said allowed “nonsensical” conspiracy theories to flourish. He also suggested the force needs to improve its support for families in such distressing situations.
The former detective also commented on the haste with which local police ruled out the possibility of foul play involving two men who had accompanied Jay, an apprentice bricklayer, to the remote village of Masca. It was there that belongings and a body, believed to be that of Jay, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, were found 29 days after he disappeared.
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The discovery was made on Monday near Masca, in the northwest of Tenerife, not far from where Jay was last seen.
Bleksley has previously questioned whether police may have missed a crucial “golden advantage” in investigating key locations, such as the AirBnB where Jay stayed the night before she disappeared. Reports indicated the property was only examined by plainclothes officers wearing forensic footwear 12 days after Jay disappeared on June 17, the Express reports.
At the start of the inquiry, Bleksley questioned the Guardia Civil’s approach of treating the situation solely as a missing person case, thereby excluding any criminal investigation. He defended the force’s actions, insisting that they had done everything they could with the resources available and had acted correctly in their handling of the case, which the Guardia Civil consistently treated as a missing person situation.
Speaking to Express.co.uk, he said: “It seems the theory they (the Guardia Civil) were working on was correct from the start. They carried out a search of the land near Masca and there are indications that that was the area where they found Jay.” However, he said: “It was very unusual for them to declare those two men non-relevant so early in the investigation. Then we saw them 12 days later returning to the AirBnB. That fuelled the fire of speculation, conspiracy theories, gossip and rumours.”
Mr Bleksley went on to say: “I personally think the GC needs to work on how they release information to the media and how they communicate with families of missing people and victims of serious crime – I’m not suggesting there is anything criminal about the Jay Slater case.”
He suggested Tenerife police should be more proactive in cracking down on online conspiracies spread by “armchair detectives” and criticised the force for not communicating enough.
The lack of action to counter the rumours allowed false claims to spread, including unfounded stories from “social media detectives” that Jay had fled the island on a yacht or that he had been pursued by Eastern European mobsters for allegedly stealing a watch.
Mr Bleksley suggested the Guardia Civil should follow the example of UK police forces and employ specialist officers to contact families, after Jay’s family had to deal with conspiracy theories and “horrible comments” posted by online trolls during the search.
However, he acknowledged that quelling online rumours would be a challenge for any force, arguing that social media platforms should take greater responsibility for the content that appears on their sites. On Monday (15 July), Tenerife’s Guardia Civil confirmed that its Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group had found the body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of tireless searching.
“Given the complexity of the case, the discovery was made possible thanks to the constant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard over these 29 days, during which the natural space was preserved so as not to become overcrowded with curious onlookers,” the police force explained.
“All indications point to the possibility that this is the young British man who has been missing since June 17, pending a complete identification.
“The initial investigations suggest that he may have suffered an accident/fall in the inaccessible area where he was found.” The Civil Guard is awaiting the results of the autopsy to confirm that the accident was accidental.
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