Jay Slater's heartbroken family hit out at 'horrible lies' over teen's disappearance

The search for missing teenager Jay Slater continues to be marred by online trolls, causing further distress for his already anguished family and friends.

The 19 year old from Lancashire has been missing since June 17 after he disappeared in the mountains of north west Tenerife.

Despite the extensive rescue efforts involving the Civil Guard, fire crews, mountain rescue teams, and even Jay's own family, the young man remains missing. Amidst this turmoil, Jay's mother, Debbie Duncan, confessed she is "at her wit's end with worry".

However, the pain doesn't stop there as the family has also had to contend with a barrage of false allegations on social media, including claims they were 'partying on boats' and false reports that Jay's body had been found.

Rachel Harg, the mother of Jay's best friend and admin of the Find Jay Slater Facebook group, expressed her heartbreak over the cruel trolling.

Rachel, the mother of Jay's best friend, has slammed online trolls for spreading false information about her. She shared a screenshot of a video that falsely claimed she was partying on a boat instead of searching for the missing teen.

In response, she wrote: "This is another horrible lie about myself firstly this isn't me ! ! I took the video on my last holiday on a boat trip the lady in this video I don't know it was just me videoing the trip I was on with my family.", reports the Manchester Evening News.

She continued: "Secondly this was when I went to Turkey in April this clip someone stole it and saying am in Tenerife partying.I am here looking for my sons best friend not partying if anyone did see this ! ! ! ! ! ! "

She concluded her post by stating: "Absolutely heartbroken. It was a previous holiday," followed by a broken heart emoji.

The missing teen's mother spoke to the Daily Mail, expressing faith in the Spanish police: "The Spanish police are doing a good job and we are getting updated from the consulate so we just put our faith in them."

"I know people in the UK have come forward as well who were at the festival and they are giving details of what they know but I'm not being told about that. Jay's very good friends from home have also been over and have put up posters. They are good kids and like me just want him home."

Jessica, a 19 year old engineer and one of Jay's friends assisting in the search, expressed her frustration with "online detectives" spreading harmful rumours about the search and her friend.

She criticised these keyboard warriors and urged them to stop their hurtful actions.

Despite rampant online speculation and naysayers, the hunt for Jay Slater is far from over, with the deployment of expert sniffer dogs to scour the terrain in an effort to piece together Jay's last known whereabouts and bring the missing youngster home.

The Tenerife constabulary confirmed on Tuesday that a team of canine units from Madrid has been drafted into the ongoing search operation, now entering its second week.

The force elaborated: "The Civil Guard continues with the search device for the young British man who disappeared in the Masca neighbourhood, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte (Tenerife), in which different units of the Civil Guard participate.

"In addition, today several Canine Guides of the Civil Guard dispatched from Madrid with their canine agents specialised in the search for people on large areas of land, belonging to the Cynological Service of the Civil Guard."