NEWPORT, Manchester — Even as the guardians of missing Manchester schoolboy Jayden Smith on Friday welcomed the widening of the search by the police to locate him, they are living in fear, claiming they have received threats amid the child’s disappearance.

Omar Thompson, Jayden’s uncle-in-law, said the threats have been fuelled by constant misinformation.

“We want some closure. You see the police here, I told them you can search anywhere they want and if they want to come back they are free to come, because even last night I heard somebody say we kill him and throw him in the pit. I open the pit and show the police. I carried them right around the whole house and if they want to go up in the bush there I am willing to follow them. I don’t have anything to hide,” Thompson told journalists on Friday, exactly two weeks after Jayden was reported missing.

“I am afraid to go on the road. That is why I am glad is here the search came this morning. I told my wife that I am not going on any search because I don’t know who might be out there, if my life in danger… People say I look wicked, it better you say I am ugly, but don’t say I am wicked,” added Thompson.

On Friday the Jamaica Constabulary Force utilised drones from its Specialised Operations unmanned aerial vehicle unit; cadaver dogs from its canine unit and personnel from its missing person’s desk as well as Newport Police Station to comb Jayden’s family home and surrounding areas. The search yielded no results.

Thompson reflected on Jayden’s upbringing at his home in Wales, Newport, Manchester.

“We are not coping well… The only thing I would love [is to] find him. Jayden a we model little baby… When I look into it Jayden is a willing little boy,” he said in reference to the boy’s helpfulness at his home.

“To know say you get up for over two weeks now and you don’t see him you have to really wonder what happened. When we took Jayden he was not even going to school. We carry him through the basic school system right through to Bethabara [Primary School],” said Thompson.

“Jayden made me feel more than proud when [he] became the top boy from Bethabara. I can’t [say] the big word that I hear my wife call, so I just say the top boy,” added Thompson in reference to Jayden being the valedictorian at the school’s last graduation.

He said he remains puzzled by the 12-year-old’s disappearance as he recalled his last encounter with his nephew.

“When you look for him to come home at evening time and you are not seeing him, you wonder what happened. I don’t know what happened. Jayden nuh give nuh trouble. When Jayden was leaving the [Friday] morning I gave him his lunch money, $1,500… he said he took up $2,000 out of his savings pan to buy pizza. I said, ‘No problem, a your money’… When I [reached] out on the road I said to him, ‘Jayden, my father said if you can’t be good, be careful.’ He said, ‘Yes, uncle Bredda’ and he jumped into a taxi. From that me nuh see him again,” Thompson said.

“I know that the heart of man is desperately wicked, but I am not wicked. The amount of children I raised here. I raised more than 10 children here, because even the young man there [Jayden’s adult brother] a we raise him from him a little pickney till him come turn big man,” added Thompson.

Jayden reportedly went missing after leaving school on September 26. Police on Thursday said they have followed up on several reported sightings of the child, but expressed concern regarding prank calls.

“We don’t have any information to suggest that he was being abused where he was… We are not sure if these are really sightings of Jayden. We have heard persons say they thought they saw him and it was mistaken identity. We have been getting a lot of prank calls about Jayden,” commanding officer for Manchester Superintendent Carey Duncan said on Thursday.

Ann-Marie Thompson, Jayden’s aunt and guardian, sought to clarify a media report regarding the child emptying his savings.

“When persons are saying that Jayden emptied his savings or he use a card and withdraw from the machine, Jayden doesn’t have a bank account. Jayden doesn’t have a debit card. Jayden had maybe $2,600 in the little box he was saving. I gave him the little box to save in and he took out the $2,000 [saying] he was going to buy pizza or whatever. He left the silver [coins] in the box, so he didn’t empty his savings, it wasn’t an account, it was a little box that he was saving into, so I want to make that clear, because persons are speculating that he emptied the whole saving pan,” she said.

Crime officer for Manchester Deputy Superintendent Dennis Simpson warned the public that it is an offence to conceal the whereabouts and/or hide missing children amid the ongoing search for Jayden.

“It is an offence to be harbouring Jayden without reporting this to the police to assist our efforts in finding him, so if you are doing so, please desist,” said Simpson.

Omar Thompson, Jayden Smith’s uncle-in-law, speaking with journalists on Friday.

Crime officer for Manchester Deputy Superintendent Dennis Simpson speaking with journalists on Friday. (Photo: Kasey Williams)

An undated photo of missing Manchester High schoolboy 12-year-old Jayden Smith.