Former detective says further details of Jay Slater's death and last movements in Tenerife are yet to be released
Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been investigating the death of Jay Slater, has said that an update could be shared "soon" after he met with the teenager's family
by James Holt, Tim Hanlon · ChronicleLiveFormer detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who has been closely investigating the case of Jay Slater's death, hinted at a potential update "soon". Williams-Thomas, who travelled to Tenerife to support Jay's family following his disappearance in June, has indicated on social media that he has continued his investigative efforts.
Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, was last seen while on holiday attending a three-day music festival with friends. The 19 year old tragically had his remains discovered near the village of Masca on July 15, close to where he was last known to be, after going missing on June 17.
An initial autopsy suggested Jay died due to a "fall or plunge from height", and the Civil Guard reported multiple broken bones among his catastrophic injuries. While this provided some closure to his family, the reasons behind Jay's solitary venture remain a mystery.
In a recent video posted on Monday (October 14), Mr Williams-Thomas shared that he had taken a break from social media but reassured that there were further details about Jay's movements prior to his disappearance yet to be disclosed, despite always believing the incident was a "tragic accident".
"I worked very closely with the family and as a result of that, got a lot of information, but also a lot of information from potential witnesses, people involved, people who knew Jay and also the authorities in a roundabout way," he said. "One of the things that's very clear is there is a huge amount of misinformation. I've been back and looked through some of the videos that I took when I went out there, in relation to my investigation and thought processes of whilst the investigation was going on.", reports the Mirror.
"You find information out, you look at that, and then a couple of days later that information changes or is evidenced in some way. Some of the information that came to me in the early days wasn't accurate and wasn't correct and I needed to validate it."
Mark said he had "access to the family, mobile phone records and friends" of Jay as part of his enquiries. He said there "wasn't a single friend who stepped away and didn't engage" with him as he probed the teenager's disappearance back in June, including keeping in regular contact one of the men that Jay stayed with at the rural Masca Airbnb rental the night before he vanished.
He admitted that he has not yet revealed details of "considerable issues that existed" and why Jay "left in the manner he did" and didn't want to return but that they may be released "when the time is right".
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He remarked: "I've got to be very careful. What I don't want to do is upset the family with any more trauma than they have already had and so it would be something I would work very closely with Debbie and the family on to reveal that information. And maybe the time will be right soon to be able to do that, but not right now. I've spoken in the last few days to Debbie; we get on very well. There is no issue with that at all."
He went on to add: "She's a mother who lost her child and not just that, but was in the eye of a media storm. This was an inquiry that hit headlines not just in the UK, but worldwide. People became fascinated and it took on a life of its own and, as a result of that, there were lots of conspiracy theories and people with their own views in terms of what happened."
"But I was literally at the heart of it, able to establish information from different parties, collect that information and look to see what evidential value it had. I was very clear from day one that this looked like a tragic accident."