‘Scared’ Jay Slater fled Airbnb after ‘stealing £12k Rolex’, private investigator claims

3 July 2024, 10:57 | Updated: 3 July 2024, 11:08

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

A ‘scared’ Jay Slater fled the Airbnb he stayed in with two men after admitting to stealing a £12,000 Rolex, a private investigator has claimed.

Mark Williams-Thomas, who worked on the Madeleine McCann case, said Jay, 19, did not want to return to the Airbnb in Tenerife - despite his phone running low on battery.

Williams-Thomas claimed on his Twitter page that Jay posted a Snapchat saying he had taken the Rolex from an unidentified person.

Jay, from Lancashire, has been missing since June 17, when he was on holiday for a weekend music festival with two friends.

Police are understood to be speaking to witnesses about an alleged Rolex theft at a beach club hours before the teenager’s disappearance.

A ‘brawl’ reportedly broke out at the Papagayo Beach Club in the early morning of June 17 after an Eastern European man allegedly had his watch taken.

Read More: 'Words cannot describe the pain': Mum of missing Brit Jay Slater shares heartbreaking update as land search ends

Read More: Inside the Tenerife Airbnb where missing teenager Jay Slater stayed before going missing

Williams-Thomas added that he has not been able to verify whether what Jay said was true, but that friends have said “he would not make this up”.

“The watch was subject of later conversation between the friends,” he added.

The new development comes after Jay’s mum issued a heartbreaking new statement about the disappearance of her boy.

Debbie Duncan said “words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing”.

Ms Duncan thanked the Spanish Civil Guard, who she said have “worked tirelessly” around the area in the mountains where Jay’s phone was traced.

In a statement issued through the British overseas missing persons charity LBT Global, she said: "Jay is a normal guy who is in his third year of an apprenticeship, and he is a very popular young man with a large circle of friends.

"We are a very close family and are absolutely devastated about his disappearance. Words cannot describe the pain and agony we are experiencing. He is our beautiful boy with his whole life ahead of him and we just want to find him.

"We do not have any information on his whereabouts.

"The Guardia Civil have worked tirelessly up in the mountains where Jay's last phonecall was traced. They conducted a land search for 12 days which involved every resource they had available.

"Although the land search ended, the Spanish police still continue with their investigations into why Jay had travelled to the location so far away from his accommodation.

"We offer our sincere thanks to the Spanish authorities who continue to follow lines of inquiries."