Speaking to The Telegraph on Wednesday, he said: “My only question is, and this is where you start the investigation from, why did two grown men take a young boy to a valley to a bed and breakfast? I can’t understand that.”
“Why? You need to ask them why and then start from there. Spanish police must know. It is frustrating. It’s a language barrier and you can’t get mad at Spanish police because they don’t like it.”
Mr Slater Snr spoke to The Telegraph after spending two hours
searching the natural park in north-west Tenerife where his son vanished. He was joined by his other son, Zak, 24, and Mr Slater’s uncle, who did not want to be named.
Searching at the hottest point of the day, the trio followed a mountain path down the barren valley and looked inside two abandoned shacks, which sit just a few hundred yards from where Mr Slater’s phone was last traced.
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Mr Slater Snr, dressed in a black T-shirt and blue shorts, cut his legs and arms as he looked for his son. He said he was doing a “Columbo bit”, referencing the US TV detective.
Pointing to a large mountain peak in the distance, he said: “If someone told me ‘he’s up that hill and you’ll find him’, I’d climb that f---ing hill and find him.
He added: “If I had mountain boots and some ropes I would go for it, but I can’t do it in Adidas Sambas.
“All I’m doing is a Columbo bit myself. I mean, he might be on here, you never know. But as a dad, I don’t want him to be.
“You just don’t disappear. He’s a young boy. He’s fit. He’s fitter than us all put together. He’s played football all his life. He’s fit as a flea. You just don’t disappear.”
Police must know the answer but they’re not telling us anything, he says
www.telegraph.co.uk