Detective Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he knows the reason why British teenager Jay Slater left the Airbnb in Tenerife hours before his tragic death.
The disappearance of the Lancashire teenager on 17 June prompted a huge search across the Spanish island after his friend Lucy Law contacted local authorities.
His disappearance drew large amounts of media attention as volunteers flocked to the island to aid with the finding of Jay, 19.
Sadly, police would recover Jay's body nearly a month later on 15 July in a steep ravine in the north-west of the island. A post-mortem would later conclude the teenager had died from traumatic head injuries consistent with a fall from a significant height.
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The Spanish Civil Guard added that his death was likely instantaneous.
The case was officially ruled as an accident, however, questions have since remained about why the teenager had decided to leave the Airbnb he'd travelled to in the rural Masca region of the island and attempt an 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
Private detective Mark Williams-Thomas has now come forward and claimed to know why the teenager decided to leave the Airbnb and walk to his accommodation.
Sharing a video update across his social media accounts, Williams-Thomas confirmed that he'd been in touch with all of the relevant people.
He also hinted at knowing the reason why Jay had chosen to leave and not return to the house in Masca, but added that he wouldn't reveal the information until 'the time was right'.
"I've got to be very careful," he said. "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.
"Maybe the time will be right soon to be able to do that, but not right now."
Williams-Thomas didn't provide a timeline on when people could expect to hear the update, but added that he was still in contact with Jay's mother Debbie Duncan.
Elsewhere in the clip, the investigator claimed there had been a lot of 'misinformation' spread online in the early days of the case, such as various conspiracy theories about Jay's whereabouts and what his friends had been up to.
"One of the things that's very clear is there is a huge amount of misinformation," he said. "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.
"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 I needed to validate."
He also added that he'd been able to speak with 'all of' Jay's friends, as well as one of the men from the Airbnb.
Topics: Jay Slater, UK News
Brenna Cooper