The British man who ‘was at the Airbnb where missing Jay Slater visited’ before he disappeared has broken his silence – claiming he ‘left there alive’.
Ayub Qassim has claimed he invited the 19-year-old back to the rental property in the north of Tenerife, close to the village of Masca, after a rave on the south of the island. Qassim, who reportedly booked the £40-a-night apartment under the name of Ayub Abdul, has spoken out amid wide-spread speculation into why Jay went back there and why he left with his phone on 1 per cent battery and with no water.
Qassim said he was ‘doing Jay a favour’ by letting him stay at the apartment – named Casa Abuela Tina. Speaking to the Mail Online, the 31-year-old said: “He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive.”
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According to reports, Qassim was jailed nine years ago for being the mastermind behind a sophisticated operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs. Spanish Police have already spoken to him and the unnamed pal he was travelling with – though officers on the ground said the pair were ‘irrelevant’ to the investigation.
Qassim has now returned to his family’s flat in east London. Speaking yesterday, he said: “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 that there had been no argument with Jay amid reports that the teenager, from Lancashire, had told friends he had ‘taken a £12,000 Rolex watch’ and ‘left the rental property feeling scared’. Qassim said: “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 around 8am that morning.
The teenager, who was on holiday with his pals Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, had previously been partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, before leaving the event to go back to the rented property. His last known location was the Rural de Teno Park in the north of the Canary Island – which was about an 11-hour walk back to his accommodation.
At around 8.30am on the morning of his disappearance, Jay called Lucy to say he was in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home with no water and 1 per cent on his phone battery. That was the last time anyone heard from him.
Yesterday, Mark Williams-Thomas, a former British police detective who is helping Jay Slater’s family in Tenerife, claimed the teenager was ‘scared’ when he left the Airbnb and had allegedly ‘taken a Rolex’ before he went missing.
The investigator said: “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.” The former detective claimed that Jay had ‘posted a Snapchat saying that he’d taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person’.
“We’ve been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft”, he said in the video. “However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject of later conversation between the friends.”
Qassim told the Mail Online that he had not spoken with the former detective and had only spoken to Spanish authorities. He said: “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 how well he knew Jay and what he thought of the conspiracy theories surrounding his disappearance, Qassim said: “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.”
After almost two weeks of hunting for the teenager in vast and mountainous terrain, police called off the search on the ground for him. On June 30, they said officers would continue to act on any tip-offs or other information that came in but the active work that has been ongoing since the apprentice bricklayer was reported missing would cease.
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William Turner is a seasoned U.K. correspondent with a deep understanding of domestic affairs. With a passion for British politics and culture, he provides insightful analysis and comprehensive coverage of events within the United Kingdom.
