Jay Slater's body 'is ready to be released to the family' after cause of death is revealed

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By stefan armitage

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The body of Jay Slater is reportedly "ready to be released to his family" following a post-mortem.

Screenshot 2024-07-03 at 16.35.08.jpgJay Slater vanished after a night out in Tenerife in June. Credit: Supplied

On Monday (July 13), the Spanish Civil Guard confirmed that a body had been found by rescue teams searching for the 19-year-old Brit.

The following day, a spokesperson from the Canary Islands High Court of Justice confirmed that the body had been identified Jay after fingerprint analysis. The teen's documents were also found alongside his body.

"We have a positive ID... Fingerprinting confirms that the body belongs to Jay Slater," the spokesperson said.

Following a preliminary autopsy, officials confirmed that the probably cause of death has been determined as a "fall or plunge from height" with Jay suffering "broken bones" in the process.

jay slater 3.jpegThe body of Jay Slater was found on Monday, July 15. Credit: Handout

Now, a report from The Sun has revealed that Jay's body is ready to be released to his family - many of whom had flown out to Tenerife to aid in the search of the teenager.

Revealing their next plans, a spokesman for Jay's family said: "The body is now ready to be released to the family.

"There are a number of complex issues that need to be addressed before he can finally be flown home to the UK.

"But the plan is for his family to be on the same flight. They want to bring him home."

Jay had been vacationing on the Spanish island with friends while attending the NRG music festival.

On the evening of June 16, he and his friends had been attending an event at the Playa de la Americas resort, when he chose to stay out with two British men he had met while on vacation.

After traveling back to their Airbnb in the village of Masca, he left the property and called his friend, Lucy Mae Law, shortly after 8:00AM. Jay said that he was thirsty and was going to attempt to walk home with his phone battery on "1%". The journey would have taken him approximately 10 hours.

He was last seen by a local cafe owner walking away from the village, with his body eventually being found a "20-minute walk away" from where his phone location was last tracked.

On Tuesday (July 16), the Spanish Civil Guard also released a video on X showing rescue workers navigating the perilous area surrounding the village of Masca - where Jay's body was found.

Rescue teams can be seen climbing up steep cliff faces, before a helicopter can be seen winching workers in and out of the perilous terrain.


The video was accompanied by the caption: "Agents of the @GuardiaCivil belonging to the Mountain Rescue and Intervention Group #GREIM have located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area, belonging to the municipality of Buenavista del Norte #Tenerife."

Additionally, a representative for Jay's family has since released a statement on behalf of his "devastated" loved ones.

jayslater2(1) (1).jpegCredit: Facebook

"The whole family is absolutely broken. They are devastated. It's not the outcome they were hoping for," the spokesperson told the MailOnline. .

"Initially, they thought, how could he be so close and yet be missed? But now having seen the location, they appreciate the remoteness of it and there is no criticism of the search.

"It looks as if he fell from a height, so he would most likely have been killed instantly and he wasn't there for a long time.

“There will be a PM [post-mortem] in Tenerife and probably one in the UK, and repatriation should be within a week or so, it's all time-dependent."

Our thoughts continue to go out to Jay's family and loved ones at this time.

Featured image credit: Instagram