Jay Slater RECAP: Bombshell update as body is airlifted out of 'inaccessible area' near where missing teenager's mobile phone last pinged four weeks ago

The 'totally devastated' mother of Jay Slater has demanded answers tonight after a body was found in the hunt for her missing son.

Slater, 19, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, vanished on the morning of June 17 on the Spanish holiday island of Tenerife, prompting a huge search to try and find him.

Spanish police called off the official search after 13 days, but on Monday announced they had discovered a body close to where his mobile phone is believed to have lost reception 29 days ago. Formal identification has not yet taken place, but officers say that 'everything is pointing to it being' the missing teen.

His grief-stricken mother Debbie Duncan, 55, has 'lots of questions which she hopes will be answered in the coming days,' a source close to the family said.

'Debbie is completely devastated,' the insider told The Sun, adding that the 'hardest' part for Duncan is that the remains were 'found so close to the original search site'.

There has been a flurry of new donations today, with over £1,000 raised in the seven hours since the tragic news was announced.

This brings the total to over £54,500 of the £30,000 target - which was reached within three weeks of the teenager disappearing.

The girlfriend of Jay's brother posted an emotional message after Spanish police announced they had found a body in the search.

Jessica Rogers took to social media today to pay tribute to the teenager.

She posted a photograph of Jay with a blue love heart, accompanied by the words: 'Will love you forever'.

Jay's heartbroken family must now wait for a post-mortem examination to be conducted to confirm whether the body found close to where his phone last pinged in Rural Teno Park is that of Jay's.

Read more on MailOnline below

The body which was found in Tenerife today has not yet been formally identified, despite the belief it is Jay Slater.

A post-mortem examination on the remains is set to be carried out in due course in the northern Tenerife city of La Laguna, The Mirror reported.

The search for Slater had been carried out 'under a secrecy order from the court in charge of the investigation', LBC has reported.

Officials had been 'carrying on with the search, unbeknownst to anyone' in a bid to stop internet sleuths from searching themselves.

Read the latest on MailOnline below

GoFundMe have revealed what will happen to the £54,000 donated to Jay Slater's fundraiser as new donations pour in after a body is found in the search.

Questions have been raised about what will happen to the money given by generous strangers after a body was found following a month of searching.

Although not yet formally identified as the 19-year-old, it is believed to be the apprentice bricklayer, who may have died due to an 'accidental fall in the steep and inaccessible area'.

There has been a flurry of new donations today, with £700 raised in the five hours since the tragic news was announced.

This brings the total to over £54,000 of the £30,000 target - which was reached within three weeks of the teenager disappearing.

A GoFundMe spokesperson told The Sun it is in 'regular contact' with Jay's family to work out the next steps for dealing with the money over the next few weeks.

West End Methodist Church in Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, will open tomorrow to give support to the local community and those who knew the teenager.

Rev Matt Smith said: 'We hold Jay's family and friends in our thoughts and prayers at this horrible time.'

Missing persons charity LBT Global said the remains were found close to the last known location where Jay's mobile pinged near the remote village of Masca, north-west Tenerife, amid an arid landscape of rocky ravines lined with cacti.

The charity has been supporting Jay's family throughout the search.

In a statement today, the charity said: 'LBT Global is saddened to announce that a body found in Tenerife does look to be that of Jay Slater. It is understood the body was found close to the site of his mobile phone's last location.

'Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater's possessions and clothes.

'A post-mortem examination and forensic enquiries will follow.

'LBT Global are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.'

• A body was discvered today in 'inaccessible area' close to where his mobile phone last pinged 29 days ago
• The body was recovered using a helicopter due to the difficult terrain
• Formal identification has not yet taken place but officers say that 'everything is pointing to it being' Jay after his clothes were found next to the body
• Police said in a statement that he may have died after 'suffering an accident or fall' but a post-mortem should reveal more details
• Tributes have started flooding in on social media including a heartfelt post by Jay's friend Brad Hargreaves who was on holiday with the 19-year-old

The Civil Guard continued to search for the missing teenager from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire despite appearing to call off their hunt after 13 days.

In a statement they said they had found a body after '29 days of non-stop searching'

They added: 'Given the difficulties of the case, the discovery has been possible thanks to the constant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard for the last 29 days during which care was taken to ensure curious onlookers did not fill the area.

They believe the teen may have suffered an accidental fall into an inaccessible area.

A former Met Police detective chief inspector has said that the official identification of the body could take hours.

Peter Kirkham told Sky News: 'I would suspect in this case that police will be expecting to know what became of Jay pretty much within a few hours of that post mortem starting.'

In Spain, results of post-mortems are not usually made public and are instead sent to an investigating magistrate.

The missing teen's family were informed about the discovery just before the media announcement.

The body found in Tenerife was discovered a day after a specialist team of volunteers were flown in.

Five people and four dogs from the Netherlands based non-profit organisation Signi Zoekhonden were deployed to the island yesterday.

The 19-year-old's mother mother Ms Duncan used some of the £50,000 raised through the GoFundMe appeal Get Jay Slater Home to pay for the search team.

She wrote on the fundraising page: 'We are only able to fund this with the generosity of all those who donated.'

The official search was called off after just 13 days, prompting backlash from his desperate family who claimed they had been 'left in the dark'.

Jay Slater's mother Debbie Duncan hit out at vile trolls who spread conspiracy theories about her missing son and claimed they had hindered rescue attempts in Tenerife.

Ms Duncan criticised the 'awful comments and conspiracy theories' posted on social media.

She described Jay as a lovely boy and added that she couldn't put into words 'the heartache we are suffering as a family'

She added: 'He is loved by everyone and has a close bond with his family and many, many friends.'

Brad Hargreaves was with Jay on their first ever friends holiday in Tenerife, and was one of the last people to speak to him before his phone cut out.

He flew back home to the UK last week after helping with the search mission.

Uploading a picture of the two of them with a string of red broken hearts and a crying emoji, he said: 'No words. Nothing be the same without you. Rest easy brother. Love you always.'

The body was recovered using a helicopter, it has emerged today.

The chopper is believed to belong to a regional government emergency and rescue group which co-ordinated with Civil Guard mountain rescue experts so they knew exactly where they needed to be.

It is thought that instead of landing, specialists on the ground winched the body up to the waiting chopper overhead after securing it.

The helicopter was mobilised because the terrain where the human remains were located was so steep and difficult to access.

Lancashire Police have released a statement confirming they've been informed by Spanish police that the body of a man likely to be Jay Slater has been found.

Their statement reads: 'We have today (Monday 15 July) been notified by the Guardia Civil [Civil Guard] that they have found the body of a man and that the indications are that this is Jay Slater," the statement says.

'While at this stage no formal identification has been carried out our thoughts are very much with Jay’s family at this time, and we continue to offer them our support.'

The Guardia Civil, specialist search teams and Jay's friend and families have spent almost a month searching for the missing teenager from Lancashire in the harsh terrain of southern Tenerife.

The village of Masca sits under a fierce sun with temperatures of 25C and is surrounded by cacti, rocky ravines and a sprinkling of houses.

It is understood the teenager was driven back to the remote village - an hour's drive from the NRG festival - by two older British men.

After leaving their Airbnb early in the morning, Jay started trying to walk back to his accommodation but called a friend to say he was lost, severely dehydrated and only had one per cent battery on his phone.

It is understood the body was found close to the last known location where Jay's mobile pinged.

Sunday June 16: Jay and his friends, including Lucy Mae Law, party at the final day of the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club in the resort of Playa de las Americas, Tenerife.

Monday June 17: Between 3am and 6am BST, Jay goes back to an Airbnb with two men after they leave Playa de las Americas in a car.

7.30am: Jay shares a photo on his Snapchat account, which shows him standing at the doorway of a house with the location Parque Rural de Teno.

Between 8.30am and 9am: Jay calls Lucy and says he is 'lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water' and has missed a bus back south and was attempting to walk. It would take 11 hours.

The call cuts out and the phone's last location is a path in the rugged Rural de Teno national park, which is popular with hikers.

Grainy CCTV, released on June 24, shows a possible sighting of Jay at Santiago at around 6pm - nearly ten hours after his mobile phone last pinged in the Rural de Teno Park at around 8.50am.

The CCTV is taken close to a church, San Fernando Rey, where Jay's mother told MailOnline a man has come forward to say he saw someone matching her son's description sitting on a bench with two men.

Tuesday June 18: Friends search the area but there is no sign of Jay and he does not return to his accommodation.

Local police and mountain rescue teams start hunting for Jay - and his mother Debbie flies to Tenerife.

Wednesday June 19 - Spanish police use drones, dogs and a helicopter but Jay is not found. They change their search to Los Cristianos because of a possible sighting, but it is ruled out and they return to Rural de Teno.

Thursday June 20: Guardia Civil, mountain rescue, firefighters and volunteers continue to search the national park.

Friday June 21: Lancashire Police offer support but it is declined by the Spanish police.

Saturday June 22: Search teams continue scouring the national park and Debbie says: 'We just need you home.'

Sunday June 23: Police examine outbuildings at the bottom of a ravine where his phone last pinged.

Monday June 24: MailOnline learns Spanish police are investigating whether Jay's past is relevant. Jay's family focus on the area of Santiago de Teide - where the grainy CCTV they think is Jay was taken.

Tuesday June 25: Jay's mother issues a heartbreaking plea for her son to come home as more friends fly out to Tenerife. TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas is seen outside Airbnb Jay went to.

Wednesday June 26: Mr Williams-Thomas tells the two men that Jay went back with to 'come forward with crucial information'

Thursday June 27: Jay's mother says she is in talks to withdraw some of £36,000 from GoFundMe to help with rescue efforts and living expenses.

Friday June 28: Police in Tenerife call for an army of volunteers to help them scour the rugged terrain.

Saturday June 29: Only six volunteers show up to help with the search. Investigators also say the two men Jay went back with have 'no relevance' to the case.

Sunday June 30: Spanish police officially end the search for Jay Slater. They say the investigation 'remains open', however.

Monday July 15: A body is found in the hunt for Jay Slater. His possessions and clothing are discovered next to human remains. Spanish cops say it points to an 'accidental fall'

The British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global have urged he public to give the fmaily some privacy as they come to terms with the tragic news.

In their statement they said: 'Although formal identification is yet to be carried out, the body was found with Mr Slater’s possessions and clothes.

'A post mortem and forensic enquiries will follow.

'LBT Global are supporting the family at this distressing time and ask for everyone to afford them space and privacy to come to terms with the news.'

An autopsy is set to take place in the next couple of days in La Laguna, a city in the northern part of the island, a Civil Guard spokesman said.

In Spain, results of post-mortems are not normally made public but are instead sent to an investigating magistrate.

In this case, the Civil Guard will report to a court in the town of Icod de los Vinos, some 15 miles away from Masca.

It was reported this morning that Jay Slater's mother has used the donations from a GoFundMe page to fly in a team of specialist rescue volunteers.

Debbie Duncan had decided to use some of the £53,000 raised by the Get Jay Slater Home GoFundMe appeal to deploy five people and four dogs to the area, with a sixth person due to join them on Monday.

The group have been sent by the non-profit organisation Signi Zoekhonden, based in the Netherlands, who have about 20 years experience in searching for missing people.

The move came after Tenerife's Guardia Civil called off the search for the apprentice bricklayer at the end of June after helicopters, drones and search dogs were deployed to find him.

• The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had not been heard from since the morning of June 17.
• Jay had attended the last night of the three-day NRG music festival in Playa de Las Americas before going back to a £40-a-night Airbnb in the remote village of Masca, north-west Tenerife, with two older British men he met out there.
• As he tried to walk back to his accommodation in the southern part of the island, Jay called a friend to say he was lost, severely dehydrated and only had one per cent battery on his phone.

Jay Slater's possessions and clothes were found alongside the body discovered in Tenerife by the Spanish authorities.

It is understood the body was also found close to the last known location where Jay's mobile pinged, LBT Global said

Police also say the death was likely due to an ‘accidental fall in the rough and inaccessible area where he was found’.

The force added: 'All indications suggest that it could be the young British man who had been missing for 29 days, who may have died due to an accidental fall in the rough and inaccessible area where he was found.

'Thanks to the unceasing and constant search carried out by the different units of the Civil Guard, in which it has not stopped to look for the young man every day in the area of Masca, where he allegedly had disappeared the GREIM officers have found the dead body of the young person in a very inaccessible area.

'The results of the autopsy are awaiting confirmation that it is an accident.'

In a statement, the Civil Guard said: 'The Civil Guard mountain rescue and intervention unit has found, after 29 days of non-stop searching, the body of a young man in the Masca area.

'Given the difficulties of the case, the discovery has been possible thanks to the constant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard for the last 29 days during which care was taken to ensure curious onlookers did not fill the area.

'All the evidence suggests, with full identification still pending, that this is the young British man who disappeared on 17 June.'

A body has been found in the hunt for missing British teenager Jay Slater - who vanished on the Spanish island of Tenerife almost a month ago.

The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had not been heard from since the morning of June 17.

Although Spanish police are awaiting full identification, they say that 'everything is pointing to it being a young British man' who disappeared on the same date - and that the cause of death is likely to have been an 'accident or fall'.