It has been nearly a month since Jay Slater went missing, and the number of questions over his disappearance are only growing.
Spanish Police have now halted their search for the 19-year-old, who was visiting Tenerife with two friends.
Jay went missing on June 17 after staying at a remote AirBnB on the invitation of two British strangers.
One of the men was convticed drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who was one of the last people to see Jay before he went missing.
Mark Williams-Thomas, a former police officer who flew to the island to help the family of the apprentice bricklayer, spoke to Qassim, who police have dismissed as a person of interest in the case.
The former detective said: ‘He told me he was on the (Veronicas) Strip in Playa de las Americas and said that Jay wanted to carry on partying and that he hadn’t anywhere to stay, so he (Qassim) invited him back to his rental.’
He continued to explain that once they were at the Airbnb, the unnamed friend went to sleep but Jay proceeded to be given a blanket and phone charger before leaving for a bus that ‘comes every 10 minutes’.
Jay chose to leave the Papayao nightclub to an Airbnb with two men he had never met rather with his own apartment.
His two friends, Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves, had already returned home.
A theory has suggested he lost the key to his room, meaning he needed a new place to stay.
But his family have said he is ‘not that stupid’.
His uncle Glen Duncan told The Sun: ‘The fact he has come out and said all his mates have left him and he had nowhere to go, he was 10 minutes from his apartment in Los Cristianos.
‘He’s not stupid. If he didn’t have a room key he could have gone to reception for a replacement.’
But Jay’s father Warren has questionned why his son was in a remote property with ‘two grown men’.
Qassim has said Jay asked him for a phone charger and a cigarette at the AirBnB, but he did not use it.
Ex-detective Mark Williams-Thomas – who has been working on the case for weeks – spoke to Qassim who revealed what happened inside the accommodation.
He said: ‘Jay asked for a cigarette and Ayub said, I’ve got some camel cigarettes and put one on the side.
‘Jay then asked for a phone charger. He [Ayub] said, go into my friend’s room. He’s asleep.
‘Take his charger and you can put your phone on charge.’
But he told friend Lucy in a panicked phone call hours before he went missing he only had 1% phone battery before it died.
Mark also revealed Jay turned down an offer of a lift back to his accommodation to Los Cristianos from Qassim.
Qassim said Jay told him he was going to catch a bus to go home and ‘get some scran’.
He allegedly said: ‘I’m hungry. I need to get a scran. And the woman told me I can get a bus every 10 minutes to Los Cristianos.’
But Qassim told him ‘no bus is coming; and offered to drive him – but the teenager left on his own anyway ‘in a panic’.
Jay called Lucy to say he had missed the bus and was going to try and walk the 11-hour journey home just minutes after leaving Qassim.
He told her he was lost and thirsty, and his phone was about to die.
Qassim claimed he received a phone call about Jay ‘being in a ditch somewhere’.
Ex-detective Mark said: ‘He [Ayub] then says he gets a call from a friend of Jay’s who says that he’s in a ditch somewhere and he’s been cut by a cactus.’
The identity of the friend has not been released, and Spanish police have said Qassim is ‘not relevant’ to the case.
He has hit out at online speculation saying he had ‘nothing to hide’.
He has since flown back to the UK.
5. Family investigation
Jay’s family have flown out to Tenerife to help in the search.
Police called off their investigation more than a week ago, leaving the family to take matters into their own hands.
Jay’s dad Warren remains hopeful but has claimed ‘everything stinks’ and fears foul play is involved in his son’s disappearance.
He told MEN: ‘From the bnb, he’s a fit lad, 25 minutes you can get to the top, to where the cafe is. If he’s followed the road and been where we’ve been today, it’s took him an hour and a half.
‘Dozens of cars would have gone past him. We got here at 9am and the 10am bus passed us. And it would have passed him. I’ve been up here three weeks and I’ve never seen as many cars.’
Jay’s uncle Glen Duncan has also said he fears a third party could be involved.
He added it would take an army to search the whole mountainous area.
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