'HATE CAMPAIGN'
Friend who partied in nightclub with Jay Slater two days before he went missing ‘is getting death threats’, family say
Jay's dad and brother were pictured searching for him today
A FRIEND of missing Brit teen Jay Slater is getting death threats, his family have revealed.
Brandon Hodgson, 19, partied with Jay in Tenerife just two days before his disappearance - but is now receiving a barrage of abuse.
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The youngster was pictured embracing Jay at the pool party on the Spanish holiday island on June 15.
Jay - a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer- has been missing for over three weeks after vanishing on June 17 while on holiday with his two pals Lucy Mae Law and Brad Hargreaves.
Wearing a distinctive orange T-shirt and with a bag across his chest, Brandon had his arm around the apprentice bricklayer’s shoulders in the image.
Today the family spoke for the first time and his mother claimed he was being subjected to a "hate campaign" on social media.
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She likened his treatment to the false rumours which surrounded Nicola Bulley’s family after she vanished while walking her spaniel last year.
The photograph also features Lucy Mae Law, the last friend to hear from Jay.
It has led to speculation over why – unlike Lucy and Brad also 19 - Brandon has not spoken publicly about how Jay came to be separated from his friends, who all returned to the UK at the weekend.
Speaking at the family home in Brierfield, Lancashire, Brandon's mother Natalie insisted the teenager was helping Spanish police.
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But she said he had no plans to break his silence and address speculation from amateur sleuths on social media following his return home.
The 45-year-old told : "He’s liaising with the police, and that’s all that matters.
Jay Slater’s pal Lucy Mae Law shares unseen pictures of missing teen as she flies home from four-week search
"He’s got death threats and all sorts."
Natalie said the family were "not interested" in whether members of the public wanted her son to share what he knew about the final hours before Jay vanished.
She added that they wanted to avoid what she described as a "hate campaign" similar to that which hit Nicola's family after she went missing.
The mysterious case of Jay Slater
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 8 marked three weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew out to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, has made headlines around the country.
On Sunday June 16 the three of them headed off to one of the events at Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday 17 - Lucy and Brad were ready to head back to their hotel, but Jay wanted to keep partying.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two British men.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them - convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days it was thought that the second mystery man went by the name ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is out in Tenerife investigating, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We don’t yet know the identity of the second man - who remains a key part of the puzzle in Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he drove Jay and the friend back to their accommodation and said they all went to sleep.
In the morning he offered to drive the teen back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims she had a panicked call from him soon after he left the holiday let, telling her he was lost and thirsty, his phone was about to die and that he’d been cut by a cactus.
Jay had been seen by the owner of the Airbnb that morning wandering around near the Rural de Teno park - a mountainous region close-by.
He is believed to have been attempting the 11-hour trek back to his hotel, despite the alleged offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last pinged - and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he left the Airbnb quickly, and was “scared”.
Bizarrely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from an unnamed friend of Jay, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “tracked down” the two men in the Airbnb after he vanished - quizzing them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports have suggested Lucy knew the two men, although it is not clear how.
She has dubbed his disappearance “weird and suspicious”.
Both men were questioned by Spanish cops on June 17 but quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and cleared to fly back to the UK.
Police spent almost two weeks searching for Jay in the Tenerife mountains, scouring a 2,000ft ravine, before calling it off on Sunday June 30.
Jay’s family have repeatedly slammed the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teen’s devastated dad, Warren Slater, says “everything stinks”
He told The Sun: "My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him - and then start from there."
A number of unanswered questions remain, over why Jay would have travelled so far with two older men he didn’t know, why said men would have taken him in, and why he braved the Tenerife mountains with no phone battery, water or heat protection for a day-long walk
There is no suggestion of wrongdoing by any person named in this article.
Jay's family have also been victims of cruel trolling and his dad Warren has blasted conspiracy theorists and told them to search on the ground themselves before jumping to conclusions.
The 58-year-old vowed today he would not stop scouring the vast Masca ravine in northwest Tenerife for his son.
Jay's frustrated dad has called on the Army for help and said they have had no update from cops.
He was seen out combing the unforgiving landscape today with son Zak, 21, today clutching water bottles.
Warren's legs were noticeably scratched as he trekked along a bumpy path in shorts.
He said: "We are not going to stop
"We are still out looking. What more can we possibly do?
“I’ve said before, I need an army to help me.
“People don’t understand the vastness of it.”
“I’d love to be able to fly a drone and sit here all day scouring the whole area.
“Why would you go down there? Why leave the road
"When we came on Monday we must have passed 200 cars going up those hills."
It comes as a police source told The Sun "someone knows something" about the teen's disappearance.
Spanish cops are starting to probe three new bombshell leads with one theory saying the missing 19-year-old could still be alive in another part of Tenerife.
A source close to the Spanish Guardia Civil told The Sun the case is still "very much open" with "all scenarios being kept in mind".
Investigators say they haven't deemed the teen as "missing feared dead" yet as they continue to mule over the mystery case.
The apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire vanished without a trace after he headed back to an Airbnb after a night of partying with two "new friends".
He was reported missing by pal Lucy hours after he left the rented home in Masca as he embarked on a treacherous 11-hour trek through rough and rocky terrain.
We are still out looking. What more can we possibly do?
Warren Slater
After weeks of endless searching from Spanish cops, Jay's family and volunteers no trace of the teen has been found with many feeling the hunt was nearing an end.
But cops are said to be remaining hopeful that many of the questions and puzzles surrounding Jay will be cleared up soon.
A police source told The Sun: "The case is very much open because there are still a number of unanswered questions which officers must find answers to.
"They are convinced someone, somewhere knows what happened to Jay or knows where is now is, and that’s what they are working towards trying to establish as quickly as they can."
“Even though the ground search for Jay is over, the investigation into where he might be still remains very much open.
"One line of inquiry is a theory that Jay might even be in a different part of Tenerife and still alive. All scenarios are being kept in mind."
The Spanish Guardia Civil deployed a mammoth search party in hopes of finding Jay when he was first reported missing.
The Brit's family and friends all flew out to look for him as well as they called for help from volunteers.
Efforts centred around Rural de Teno park - a mountainous region near to where his phone's location pinged for the final time.
As well as the town of Santiago del Teide when apparent CCTV footage caught Jay wandering across the road.
But after cops found no trace of Jay, the official search was called off on June 30 after two weeks.
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His heartbroken and frustrated family vowed to carry on the hunt regardless as they scoured the mountains themselves.
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