Police face criticism for ending Jay Slater search amid claims friends all left him
4 July 2024, 20:25 | Updated: 4 July 2024, 20:49
Jay Slater spent his final hours at an Airbnb because “he had nowhere else to go”, claimed Ayub Qassim, one of the last known people to been with the missing teenager.
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Ayub Qassim, 31, invited Jay, 19, back to his Airbnb hours before he vanished on June 17, at around 8am.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Qassim said: “The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive.”
Jay reportedly left Qassim’s Airbnb at around 7.30am and was last seen near the Airbnb location at around 8am on Monday, June 17.
He called a friend to say he was making the 11-hour walk back to his hotel in Playa de las Americas but has not been heard from since.
Qassim was previously convicted and sentenced to nine years and nine months in jail for his involvement in an operation to import heroin and crack cocaine into Cardiff.
Spanish police queried Qassim and the unnamed friend he was travelling with, subsequently deeming them "irrelevant" to the investigation.
“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”, said Qassim, who has since returned to his family’s flat in Barking, east London.
Qassim’s statements come days after Tenerife's local Civil Guard called off the in-field search, reportedly leaving Jay’s family 'blindsided'.
Today, former detective Peter Bleksley criticised Spanish authorities, telling the Sun: “This island is so heavily dependent upon tourism, is there reluctance on behalf of the police to actually delve as deep as they should?”
“Were these officers going back to the apartment over two weeks after Jay had gone missing.”
“If they were, that raises some very serious questions about the efficiency about the thoroughness and about the competence of this entire investigation”, said Mr Bleksley.
Local Mayor Emilio Navarro defended local authorities against accusations the search was halted too soon. He told Sky News: "a magnificent job has been done by the Civil Guard".
Mr Navarro told Sky News: “It's not that the search has stopped. Maybe, yes, in the territory, the field search, but other lines are open.”
Mr Qassim, who booked the Airbnb under the name Ayub Abdul, told the MailOnline: “I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go.”
He insisted “there were no problems”, despite reports Mr Slater had fled the Airbnb in fear.
“If I'd fallen out with him would he even come to mine?” said Qassim.
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas who flew to Tenerife to help with the search claimed that Jay Slater admitted to friends he stole a £12,000 Rolex watch and was trying to sell it just hours before he vanished.
Although the former police detective has not been able to verify the alleged theft, he said Jay’s friends insisted the missing teenager would not have made it up.
Qassim said he had only spoken to authorities in Tenerife, despite Mr Williams-Thomas interest in speaking with him.
“'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”, he said.
In an update on the GoFundMe appeal ‘Get Jay Slater Home’, Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan left a comment offering “sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities”.
She continued: “we will continue to use part of the funds to support the volunteers working hard in the mountains to find Jay.”
To date, the appeal has raised over £49,500.
