UPDATE: A court spokesperson in Tenerife has confirmed to Sky News and BBC News that the body found in Tenerife amid the search for a missing UK teenager is Jay Slater.
The court official revealed that, during a post-mortem on Tuesday (July 16), is was confirmed that the body's fingerprints were examined and proved that is was 19-year-old Jay.
"We have a positive identification and more data: fingerprint tests show that the body is [that] of Jay Slater and that the death was caused by trauma consistent with a fall in a rocky area," a statement from the High Court of Justice of the Canary Islands said.
ORIGINAL:
During the search for the missing Jay Slater, the teen's family was reportedly sent "vile" videos depicting a "hostage" scene, as trolls attempted to gain ransom.
The search for 19-year-old Slater received a heartbreaking update yesterday, just shy of a month from the day he went missing (June 17).
As previously reported, Jay's phone last pinged in the Rural de Teno National Park, and human remains were found near this location, along with what are believed to be the teen's belongings.
Police said in a statement via Sky News: "The mountain rescue and intervention group of the Civil Guard has located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search.
"Given the complexity of the case, the discovery has been possible thanks to the incessant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard during these 29 days, in which the natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with curious onlookers.
"All indications indicate that it could be the young British man who has been missing since June 17 in the absence of full identification.
"The first investigations reveal that he could have suffered an accident fall in the inaccessible area where he was found. We are awaiting the results of the autopsy."
Over the last few weeks, former UK police detective Mark Williams-Thomas was in Tenerife assisting with the investigations and communicating with Jay's family.
Williams-Thomas - who has handled numerous high-profile missing persons cases - shared his insights with the Mirror on the challenging last four weeks for Jay's family and detailed why the area where the body was found is particularly perilous.
"It was late morning on Monday and Jay's parents were asked to attend the police station for an update, they attended hoping for a positive update. What they learnt was every parent’s nightmare, human remains had been found and they fitted the description of Jay, his clothing and personal belongings being found with him," the former detective said.
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He went on: "To compound the devastating news even further, he was found at a pretty inaccessible place not far from the spot where Jay had sent his location to two friends shorty before 9:00AM, four weeks earlier to the day."
He added that the terrain where the human remains were discovered is "hazardous" and "it is clear to see just how treacherous and dangerous it is - a slip or loss of footing would prove fatal."
Sadly, throughout the investigation, both Williams-Thomas and Jay's family were sent cruel messages and videos regarding the welfare of the 19-year-old.
"What has taken up the most time has been investigating the many theories and the false information which gathered traction on social media and then subsequently in the media," Williams-Thomas said.
The former detective recalled a particularly startling example, saying: "We have had two videos posted of separate people, meant to be Jay, having been beaten up, one having the words, ’We have your son’, created for publication by someone wanting to give the impression they had Jay held hostage."
He went on: "Within hours we had established these videos were not Jay. And we have had people who have contacted the family to say they have Jay and will give information in exchange for a sum of money."
Following the discovery of the remains, the GoFundMe page that was set up to support Jay's family has seen a surge in donations.
The teen's family is also receiving support from missing persons charity LBT Global.
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