Jay Slater's 'totally devastated' mother demands answers after body is found in hunt for her missing son close to his last known location - as source says its the news she has 'has been dreading'

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 today announced they had discovered a body close to where his mobile phone is believed to have lost reception 29 days ago. 

While a formal identification has not yet taken place, 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 told The Sun.

The insider claims the 'hardest' part for Duncan is that the remains were 'found so close to the original search site'.

'It's hard to take,' the source told the newspaper. 'It means it's entirely possible they have walked past his body whilst searching for him.'

Noting how Slater's family had been 'dreading' an update like this from Spanish authorities, the insider claimed that for Duncan it 'hasn't completely sunk in yet'.

They added: 'It seems incredible so many people walked that area and yet he was so close. As we have seen with mountainous terrain and ravines, it does happen — no matter how hard that is to believe.' 

Members of a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard found a body on Monday in their search for Slater, who vanished on the holiday island of Tenerife last month.

Authorities have not yet released the exact location in which they found the body, but it is understood that the remains were discovered in a remote area near the village of Masca.

While formal identification has not yet taken place, the remains were found with the 19-year-old's clothes and possessions near his last known location, missing persons charity LBT Global said.

The body was found in an 'inaccessible' and very remote part of the island, which the BBC reported is part of the reason it 'took so long to find any evidence'.

The terrain is described as 'dense' and is understood to be full of uneven ground and shrubland. There is also no sign of any emergency services in the nearby village. 

The force released video footage of rescuers climbing rock faces and battling through scrub as they carried out the search.

Part of the clip shows two members of the search team being winched out of the area by helicopter after the body had been found and recovered.

Spanish police called off the search for the missing apprentice bricklayer at the end of June after helicopters, drones and search dogs were deployed to find him.

But in its statement on Monday, the force said teams had not stopped searching for Slater every day.

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

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

'The discovery was 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 onlookers,' its statement read.

Tenerife's Guardia Civil said on Monday that officers are waiting for the results of a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death. 

Slater could have fallen in the steep and inaccessible area where he was discovered, the force said.

Slater had attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance, and his last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island, which was about an 11-hour walk from his accommodation.

He had travelled to an Airbnb in Masca after a night out, but the two men said to have rented the property were later ruled 'not relevant' to the case.

LBT Global, which supports the families of British people missing overseas, 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.'

His family endured conspiracy theories and 'awful comments' being posted online during the search for the apprentice bricklayer, but supporters has raised more than £54,000 to help fund the hunt for the teenager.

This is a breaking news story. Check back for updates.