The British man linked to the last known location of missing teenager Jay Slater has finally spoken out, asserting that the missing teen was very much ‘alive’ when he left the Airbnb. Ayub Qassim, believed to have booked the room in northern Tenerife using the alias Ayub Abdul, invited the 19-year-old to the £40-a-night let named Casa Abuela Tina after a rave.
While speculation has swirled surrounding Jay’s reasons for travelling to the apartment and his departure with just 1 per cent phone battery and no water, Qassim told the Mail Online: “He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive.”
According to reports, Qassim was previously jailed nine years ago for plans to distribute Class A drugs in Wales. Qassim has already been questioned by Spanish Police along with a friend he was with at the time, however authorities consider them ‘irrelevant’ to their current inquiries, reports the Manchester Evening News.
READ MORE:Jay Slater’s mum issues updated statement as teen remains missing in Tenerife
Now back in East London at his family’s home, Qassim responded to enquiries yesterday with a brief statement: “The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive.”
“I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him. I know Jay, through friends, I’m not going to bring someone back to mine if I don’t know them. I’m doing the geezer a favour and now my face is all over the news. It’s a bit mental. I haven’t even done anything.”
He added: “If I’d fallen out with him would he even come to mine? There were no problems. You’ve seen the last images of him with his red blanket around him. I don’t know if he had beef elsewhere because I don’t know him that well, I only know him through friends.'”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, disappeared on the Spanish island on June 17. He was last seen leaving the Airbnb at approximately 8am. His friends, Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, shared that before his disappearance, Jay had been enjoying the nightlife at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas. From there, he went back to Qassim’s holiday accommodation, which turned out to be Jay’s last confirmed location.
The place Jay went missing, Rural de Teno Park, was an 11-hour trek from where he had been staying. At around 8.30am on the day he vanished, Jay rang Lucy to tell her he was in an unknown location, trying to get home with his phone battery at 1 per cent and no water left. That call was the last time anyone would hear from him.
In a recent development, ex-cop turned investigator Mark Williams-Thomas, who’s been drafted in by Jay Slater’s family to assist with the search in Tenerife, has suggested that the young lad felt ‘scared’ when he bolted from the Airbnb. It’s also been alleged that Jay had ‘taken a Rolex’ before his disappearance.
Williams-Thomas revealed: “We’ve received information that would suggest that Jay left the rental property feeling scared and he would not return to the rental, even though that would have been the most sensible course of action.” He further claimed that Jay had ‘posted a Snapchat claiming he’d taken a £12,000 Rolex off someone’.
Despite these claims, Williams-Thomas admitted: “We’ve been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft”, but added that Jay’s mates reckon he was being truthful about the watch, which apparently became a topic of discussion among them later on.
Qassim told Mail Online that his conversations have been solely with Spanish officials, stating: “I’ve spoken to the Spanish police and they’ve told me not to speak to anyone which is why I’ve been quiet. I’ve not spoken to Mark Williams-Thomas or anyone like him because he doesn’t have any jurisdiction in Tenerife, and I haven’t done anything wrong.”
Asked about his acquaintance with Jay and his views on the conspiracy theories surrounding Jay’s disappearance, Qassim remarked: “Everyone knows each other. I’m not going to slander anyone. He’s a cool guy, Jay. He ain’t got a problem with me, I haven’t got a problem with him or his mates. We just all talk to each other and everything was sweet.”
The search for the missing teenager in the vast and challenging terrain was halted by police after nearly two weeks. On June 30, they announced that while officers would still respond to any new information or tips, the intensive search efforts that had been underway since the apprentice bricklayer was reported missing were being discontinued.
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