FOR many holidaymakers the Canary Islands are a paradise with year-round sunshine, black volcanic beaches and dramatic scenery.
Millions of tourists head to popular destinations in Tenerife, Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura to soak up the rays.
La Palma, La Gomera, and El Hierro make up a total of seven islands in the archipelago.
But the Spanish islands appear to have a “dark side”.
In recent years, several missing person mysteries and death tragedies have blighted the holiday hotspot.
In 2024, the mystery around the disappearance of 19-year-old Jay Slater in Tenerife hit global headlines.
Several Scots have been involved in tragedies across the Canaries.
And thousands of Spanish citizens flooded the streets in protests against overtourism last year.
Locals across the Canaries say their home has been turned into a playground for tourists.
Gary Shearer
The family of a missing Scots man who disappeared more than two years ago issued a warning to holidaymakers heading to Lanzarote.
On March 16 2023, Gary Shearer, from Renfrew, went missing from the Spanish holiday hotspot.
He had flown to the island ahead of St Patrick’s Day celebrations but was reported missing when he never caught his flight home.
He is thought to have disappeared outside Bar 67 in Puerto del Carmen but was later seen lying unconscious in a doorway next door on CCTV around 12.30am on March 17.
His worried family travelled to Lanzarote to try and find him.
In 2024, the family told how they were losing hope of getting any answers about what happened to him.
And a crushing blow came when Spanish cops told them last June they were closing the missing person’s case after they “exhausted all leads.”
In March 2025, officers confirmed they reopened the investigation into Gary’s case.
But his family have warned others about the “dark side” of the holiday destination.
In a statement on social media, Gary’s family said: “Unfortunately, since Gary went missing, we have heard from so many people who have come forward to tell us about their own experiences of being mugged, robbed, or victims of other crimes in Lanzarote.
“What’s heartbreaking is how often these incidents seem to be brushed aside or not properly dealt with.
“One comment we constantly see is ‘I visit Lanzarote all the time and feel so safe.’
“As a family who are living through the worst experience imaginable, we urge everyone visiting the island to stay cautious and vigilant.”
They added: “Lanzarote can be a beautiful island if you’ve never encountered its darker side, but please always keep your wits about you.
“There is far more crime than many people realise, and much of it goes unnoticed or unreported publicly.”
The search for Gary
Thursday, March 16, 2023:
Gary arrives in Lanzarote to celebrate St Patricks Day and checks into his hotel. He then heads to Bar 67 in Puerto del Carmen with €70 wearing a green and white Celtic FC top.
Friday, March 17, 2023:
CCTV footage seen by his family shows him lying “unconscious” in a doorway outside the Hoops supporters’ bar between at around 12.30am.
The last confirmed sighting of Gary was at 1.15am with CCTV footage showing him outside a Spar walking with an unknown man in the direction of San Antonio.
Later in March, 2023:
Gary is reported missing after he failed to check in for his flight.
He was found to have not slept in his hotel room, where his belongings were discovered.
April, 2023:
His worried family fly out to Lanzarote and began carrying out searches to find him.
Tuesday, June 20, 2023:
Spanish police arrange their first official search for Gary in Peurto Del Carmen at 9am.
Thursday, December 21, 2023:
Gary’s birthday passed with no further sightings of him.
Monday, December 25, 2023:
Gary’s family spend their first Christmas without him.
Debbie said: “I can’t even explain it – it’s just a living nightmare. It’s torture not having any answers.”
Saturday, March 16, 2024:
Gary’s family fear the worst and say they are losing hope of finding him one year after he vanished.
Debbie said: “We’ve been sitting in limbo for the past year. We’ve basically lost hope of ever getting any answers at all.”
June 2024:
Spanish police tell Gary’s family they are closing the missing person’s case and have “exhausted all leads”.
March 2025
Police tell Gary’s family they are going to continue the search.
Robert Campbell
A few months after Gary was reported missing, there was a tragedy on the same island.
Robert Campbell, known as Rab, flew to Lanzarote with a close friend but failed to catch his plane back to Scotland on May 11.
The 44-year-old was last seen in Lanzarote Airport before being separated from friend Paddy.
He was understood to have been on his first holiday abroad.
His sister Margueritte Devine confirmed that Robert was then found dead.
It was later revealed that he collapsed after suffering from severe sunstroke.
Kevin Daffurn
Back in 2017, a Scots holidaymaker was found dead on waste ground in Tenerife after carrying out a carjacking following a suspected drink and drugs bender.
Two tourists raised the alarm after spotting Kevin Daffurn’s body near a roundabout in the resort of Los Cristianos.
The 30-year-old was on his stag do with his two brothers and a group of pals when the drama unfolded just one day into the holiday.
Witnesses told how they saw him get into a motor and drive off before crashing and trying to get into others.
He then ran away and clambered over the central reservation before his body was found on nearby waste ground next to the motorway.
His brother Raymond revealed how Kevin had been snorting cocaine with pals and stayed up all night before the tragedy.
An autopsy on dad-of-two Kevin found that he died from a pulmonary edema caused by a cocktail of drink and drugs.
Scottish deaths
David Duck passed away during a trip to Fuerteventura with his mum.
The 43-year-old, from Bathgate in West Lothian, suffered a heart attack at their resort in Caybeach Caleta in 2024.
David had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and sclerosis of the liver.
Beloved dad-of-seven Andrew Haxton was enjoying time in the sun with his kids and wife Ann-Marie in Tenerife when tragedy struck.
The 53-year-old, from Greenock, was all set to fly home when he suffered a heart attack.
He suffered the medical emergency while at Tenerife South Airport in August 2024.
Iain McKellar, 53, died after falling into the pool of his three star hotel at the popular holiday destination in Fuerteventura in 2019.
His body is understood to have been spotted floating in the pool by a night watchman at the Hotel Oasis Village in Corralejo in the north of the island.
Jay Slater
Jay Slater, 19, from Lancashire, died while on holiday in Tenerife with two friends in June, 2024.
Jay’s body was tragically found on July 15, almost a month after he vanished, at the bottom of a treacherous ravine in Masca.
The apprentice bricklayer had travelled to a remote Airbnb in Masca with two men in the early hours of June 17.
He had been partying all night in Playa de las Americas, close to an hour’s drive away.
In the morning, he attempted the 11 hour walk back to his own accommodation miles away.
Jay made a tragic final phone call to friend Lucy Law to say he was lost, needed water and only had one per cent phone battery.
It was the last time Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancshire, was heard from, and a mammoth search mission was launched.
Jay’s family stayed at Santiago del Teide, the mountainous region’s gateway town, during the hunt.
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak spent weeks searching the unforgiving terrain for a breakthrough after the teenager vanished on June 17.
They retraced his steps in the blistering heat for days on their own after Spanish cops suspended their search.
But his body was finally discovered by a helicopter crew on Monday at the bottom of a ravine close to where his mobile phone last pinged.
Spanish police who were searching for missing Jay Slater revealed they helped a lost Scottish hiker cheat death during the major hunt.
David Larkin, 51, was found by cops in a desolate park near to where the missing teenager was last seen.
The officers broke off their search for the 19-year-old after locals raised fears about hiker David.
Police say David, who lives in Scotland but is originally from Northern Ireland, was “tired and disoriented” in the mountain area, and said he cheated death after going into a “difficult” area that was not “suitable for travel” on Friday.
But David rubbished the police’s version of events and insisted he was fine when they found him.
Child sex slavery
Professional paedo gangs and pimps on the Canary Islands have been exposed trafficking vulnerable children to evil sex rings on mainland Europe.
The sick groups target migrant children who are seen as “easy prey” because they are often left unaccounted for by the islands’ overrun care authorities and cannot speak Spanish.
The horrific case of 13 young girls being trafficked into sexual slavery in France unearthed a wider twisted network of predators.
Eleven of the alleged pervs were arrested in a raid in November last year in connections with the girls’ disappearances between November 2024 and May 2025.
Two homes were searched in Lanzarote, where officers seized personal documents, electronic devices and cash.
Four of the suspects were being held in pre-detention on charges including human trafficking, child-pornography offences and document forgery.
It is believed that the girls were smuggled out of a migrant reception centre in the Lanzarote capital, Arrecife, before being moved through a system of safe houses through mainland Spain and into France.
Freak wave tragedy
Four people were killed in December in a freak wave tragedy in Tenerife after tourists were swept out to sea.
A series of large waves struck a man-made natural pool in Los Gigantes, on the western coast of Tenerife, on December 7.
A major rescue operation was then launched including jet skis and helicopters.
This tragically led to the discovery of the bodies of a 35-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman, and another man who has yet to be identified.
A woman who had been airlifted to hospital died the following day and a fifth person was never found.