Missing Jay Slater: the theories investigated by police

Police investigating the disappearance of Jay Slater in Tenerife are exploring several theories about where he has ended up.

As the search for the British teenager enters its second week, "conspiracy theories are being actively investigated", The Telegraph reported, citing a source close to Spain's Guardia Civil. "From the beginning they have been considering all possibilities," the anonymous insider said.

Two theories that have been suggested are that Slater "has been kidnapped, or that he is simply hiding", said the paper.

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The 19-year-old from Lancashire attended the NRG music festival at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on Sunday night and into the early hours of Monday. He is thought to have left the club "between 3am and 6am in a car with two other British men he had met that night", travelling with them back to their Airbnb rental around 30 miles away.

He apparently left the property around 8am and attempted to walk back to his accommodation, a journey that would have taken 11 hours. The apprentice bricklayer phoned a friend shortly after to tell her he was lost, thirsty and that his phone was low on battery.

Former Northumbria Police chief Sue Sim urged those following the case at home not to "spend time putting things onto social media". "The worst thing that people can do sitting at home in their armchairs is to speculate about what might have happened," she told Sky News.

Rescue teams are "focusing on an area near a national park in northwestern Tenerife" close to where Slater's phone last recorded a signal, said the BBC.

In a strange twist of fate, members of the search effort came to the aid of another missing Briton in the area. Locals had raised concerns about a Scottish hiker who had not been seen for several hours after entering "an area of difficult access which was not suitable for transit", the Scottish Daily Express reported. Police officers and mountain rescue specialists located the 51-year-old "trapped in a gorge after becoming 'tired and disorientated'" and helped him to safety.