Yzabelle Bostyn
A BRITISH TikToker who helped search for Jay Slater has blasted the Spanish police’s final search as a ‘massive PR’ stunt.
Paul Arnott, has been sharing updates of his personal search efforts to find the missing teen on TikTok.
The amateur sleuth flew out to Tenerife after hearing the 19-year-old’s family ‘needed help’.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last seen on Monday, June 17 after telling a friend he would attempt an 11 hour trek from the northwestern village of Masca to his holiday rental in Los Cristianos.
Police searched for two weeks before confirming on Sunday that the search had been called off.
The news came just a day after police urged volunteers to aid with a large-scale search in the Masca area.
During the search, Arnott posted a video on TikTok saying: “So guys I’ve literally been waiting for absolutely ages now, this is a massive PR thing I’m telling you now… There’s people everywhere, literally people everywhere and nobody is doing anything.”
He added: “I’ve been up here for ages. Yeah there’s people everywhere, everyone’s still in their cars… I’m going to crack on with the search for Jay in the area where I think he is… I’ve been so quiet about this. I’m not doing it anymore people, I’m sick of this crap.”
After the search, he updated his TikTok followers, claiming around 30-40 volunteers came to help search a huge area of hilly, rugged terrain.
According to Arnott, the search was useless: “I’m so blooming stressed and annoyed about what’s just happened. I thought today was going to be so productive, I thought so many people were going to show up.
“I thought it was going to be really organised… I thought it was going to be massive and it’s not.”
Despite the Slater family criticising social media speculation around Jay’s disappearance, they thanked Arnott for his efforts.
Before the search was called off, Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, said she had ‘every faith’ in Spanish police.
Despite ending the physical search, police will keep the investigation into the teenager’s disappearance open.
They also added they may begin searching the south of the island, after spending just one day in that area earlier in the investigation following a false tip.
According to Sky News, British holidaymakers are ‘scared’ about coming to the island after Jay vanished.
One man told the news outlet: “I was a little bit more scared about coming here than I would have been.”
Another commented: “I’ve been here a week, I’ve seen no posters, hardly any police patrols going around, it’s like nothing’s happened really.”
