‘MISLEADING’ reports that teenager Jay Slater was spotted in a Basingstoke supermarket have been passed to police by the boss of a missing persons charity.

Matthew Searle, chief executive of LBT Global, has told national newspapers that he received hundreds of malicious emails, phone calls and messages with false information about the 19-year-old after he disappeared in Tenerife on June 19.

The teenager from Lancashire was found dead on July 15 after almost a month-long search, with a Spanish court confirming he had been identified through fingerprint tests and his injuries were “consistent with a fall in a rocky area”.

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The teenager went missing after visiting an Airbnb rented by two people he had been with at the NRG music festival on the island.

His body was found at the bottom of a ravine in the Barranco Juan Lopez valley.

Mr Searle said he has passed messages sent to him to police to investigate under telecommunications laws, including one that claimed Jay was seen in a Sainsbury’s supermarket in Basingstoke.

He has accused those who sent the messages of delaying genuine investigations into Jay’s disappearance because he had to follow up every lead.

He told The Sunday Times of the risk that police will “miss an opportunity to actually rescue someone and someone’s life will be lost” because they are dealing with malicious messages.

It is an offence under the Communications Act 2003 to send a false message that causes 'annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety to another'. Those found guilty of the offence can face up to six months in prison.

Mr Searle, who supported Jay’s family after he was reported missing, also told Sky News that he intends to speak to the home secretary about the damage and hurt caused by online trolls, whose messages he said “hinders the search”.