The Brit who 'vanished from face of Earth' on Tenerife 20 years before Jay Slater

A BRITISH man who disappeared 20 years before Jay Slater went missing has never been seen since, despite several appeals for information.

Kevin Ainley, then 24, was working and living on the Spanish island when he went missing on June 14 2004, but there was limited media coverage at the time.

From Fleetwood, Lancashire, he moved to the tourist area of Playa de las Americas three months earlier.

In a 2016 appeal 12 years later, published on the BBC website, his sister Gemma Brooke said the family was "desperate for answers".

She said: "It is no exaggeration to say we have been put through 12 years of hell. Somebody must know something."

Mr Ainley was handing out flyers for a bar called the Sportsman in an area known as "the patch" and on the day he vanished he had also visited bars and clubs with a friend.

With a different friend, at about midday, he went for a meal at a Chinese buffet restaurant called Merlins.

The last sigthting that day was of him walking in the direction of the Sportsman.

His passport and belongings were later found in his apartment.

There was a full Spanish missing person investigation and a later review by Lancashire Police, but he has never been traced.

Ms Brook added in 2016: "We are convinced there must be someone out there who saw or heard something.

"I just hope that if someone does know something they can find it in their hearts to come forward and help put us out of our misery."

She has set up a Facebook page called "Kevin Ainley, if ya out there this is for you."

When she set it up she wrote: "He is a crazy kind of guy, always ready to party and would always stand out in a crowd, but despite all his personality he has vanished off the face of the earth.

"When he disappeared all his belongings were left behind in his flat including passport, money, phone, pictures and clothes.

We hope & pray that he is still out there as he's left a huge void in his familys life and we would love to know he is safe somewhere.

"I am creating this group for anyone who knew or may know him, please leave him messages or even pass one on to him if he is out there somewhere.

On June 13 this year, just a few days before Jay Slater vanished, she posted: "Never gets easier... the pit of empty space that lives in our family.. I miss you terribly r kid."

In July 2018 Lancashire Police made a new appeal for information, which yielded no results.

Officers said they were particularly keen to speak to anyone who may have witnessed an altercation between Kevin and some door staff at the Café Del Moar in the early hours of June 13th.

Garry Fishwick, Review Officer at Lancashire Police, then said: "I appreciate the length of time that has now passed, but every year that comes and goes is another year of unanswered questions and diminished hope for Kevin’s family who are desperate for information."

Kevin, who had previously lived in both Fleetwood was described as being around 5ft 8in tall with dark brown hair. He has distinctive tattoos on his arms – the name ‘Kevin’, a little devil and a Native American woman.

Jay Slater, 19, is thought to have left the NRG music event on Tenerife by car with two men he did not previously know to a remote part of the island in the early hours of Monday, June 17, and has not been seen since.

His last contact was with a friend by phone at 8.15am that day, saying he had missed a bus and had no water with just one per cent phone battery.

He said he was on a walk back to his resort, which would have taken around ten hours, and has not been seen since.

A major search is underway on the island.