Jay Slater armed himself with two knives before fleeing an AirBnB after stealing a bag of ketamine and fearing repercussions, according to extraordinary new accounts of the night he disappeared.
The claims – including the first full witness statement from the last person to see the 19 year old alive – were uncovered in a painstaking investigation over many months by celebrity detective Mark Williams-Thomas.
Jay sparked a global media storm when he vanished in Tenerife last June only to be found dead a month later with severe head injuries at the bottom of a remote ravine on the Spanish party island.
Investigator Williams-Thomas reveals his fresh findings in a two-part podcast on the case which is set to be released later this week – and reported for the first time here.
He found that those who were around him that night spoke of Slater having taken a cocktail of drugs that left him ‘on a mission’ which saw him first steal drugs and then arm himself.
Extraordinarily the TV investigator has managed to track down two key witnesses in the case – just a month after the coroner officially appointed to investigate Jay’s death expressed exasperation that the police had been unable to find the same pair.
Those witnesses include Ayub Qassim – the man who the apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire accompanied back to an AirBnB after staying up all night on drugs following a music festival.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay Slater, 19, pictured with his mother Debbie Duncan (file picture)
Jay Slater called his friend Lucy Law (pictured together) in June last year saying he was lost
The Airbnb house in Masca, Tenerife, where Jay Slater was staying before his disappearance
Convicted drug dealer Qassim, 31, is understood to be was the last person to see the apprentice bricklayer before he vanished in mountains high above the village of Masca and had been due to give evidence at his inquest last month but the coroner said he could not be traced.
In the two part podcast called Jay Slater The Investigation, Williams-Thomas underlines how Qassim served a nine-year jail term after being convicted in 2015, following the smashing of a plot to flood the streets of Cardiff with Class A drugs.
Speaking to Williams-Thomas, Qassim describes how he had picked up Lucy Law and two friends Bradley Hargreaves and Brandon Hodgson, and they went to look for Jay after she had contacted him on social media.
In the podcast, Williams Thomas says: ‘What Qassim said next was really significant and I believe provides real context to a very number of important aspects of this case.’
Qassim tells him: ‘They were just doing my head in, one said. ‘That’s the two bottles of Henny [Hennessy cognac], they were just doing my head in.
‘In the end I just turned to Brandon and said:’ Look Brandon, one of your mates, yesterday walked way because he’s f**** off with the ket [ketamine] and he want missing. Tell this f****** idiot to get back in the car.’
Williams-Thomas says: ‘So, let’s just re hear that again,’ before playing the clip once more, and then adding:’ I believe this is really significant new information.
Mr Slater went to an AirBnB cottage with drug dealer Ayub Qassim (pictured) and another man
Jay Slater pictured with friend Brad Hargreaves (left), with whom he was on holiday in Tenerife
Members of Jay Slater’s family including his mother Debbie Duncan (front right) arrive at Preston Coroner’s Court in Lancashire for the inquest
Mr Williams-Thomas previously revealed the alleged difficulties he faced when dealing with the police in Tenerife
‘When Qassim said ket, he was referring to ketamine and my information is that this drug was readily available and that Jay had definitely been using it.
‘I have further information about the supply of ketamine into the country, in the UK ketamine is a class B drug carrying a maximum of five years sentence for possession and 14 years for supply.’
Williams-Thomas adds: ‘So, Qassim says in the recording that Jay left the rental on the morning and took with him Qassim’s ketamine.
‘If you wonder why we’ve not heard this before, his police statement of course made no mention of this.
‘My intelligence, however, is that the rental location was specifically chosen so as not to being attention to nay illegal activity.’
Also speaking for the first time since last July is a woman Jay had been holidaying with, that friend Lucy Law who also didn’t attend last month’s inquest – only for her parents to later tell MailOnline the first they knew of a requirement to attend was when police had arrived at their house asking for her on the day on the inquest.
She describes how Jay told her he was ‘on a mission’, couldn’t ‘go back to the rental [where she and he were staying]’ and he had ‘taken two kitchen knives down his pants in case anything kicks off.’
Williams-Thomas goes on to say he has shared the information with Jay’s mother Debbie, who he describes is ‘heartbroken’ and adds: ‘It is always so hard for a parent to hear things that are uncomfortable and perhaps show a loved one in a bad light.’
Search and rescue teams hunt for missing Jay Slater last summer
Jay Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan arrives at Preston Coroner’s Court in Lancashire
Last month at Preston Coroner’s Court, an inquest was opened into Jay’s death, but it was halted after key witnesses including Lucy Law and Qassim were not present and it has now been adjourned to a later date.
In his podcast Williams- Thomas adds: ‘Debbie has not wanted me to release the information from Qassim that says Jay took his ketamine when he left the rental because she says it will bring further shame on the family.
‘I don’t believe this is the case, I believe as an investigator it is vital that all credible information should be considered and investigated, and I have shared this information with the Spanish police, I know it doesn’t form part of the inquest, and I believe it should.
‘Hence why I have taken the decision to release it ahead of the inquest so it can be properly investigated.
‘So, if Jay did take Qassim’s ketamine this would explain why he put two knives in his waist band for his own protection and why very significantly he said to Lucy he couldn’t go back there.
‘This evidence gives rise to a reasonable belief that Jay was scared or worried and that’s why he had the knives in his waistband and also if he left with Qassim’s ketamine why he left suddenly and couldn’t go back.’
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was on Tenerife for the NRG music festival on June 17 and his disappearance sparked a huge month-long manhunt, one of the biggest ever on the island and his body was eventually found at the foot of an isolated gorge.
Qassim and his friend Steven Roccas, who was also staying at the AirBnB, did not attend the inquest but Qassim since said on social media he would turn up for the next hearing.
Lucy Law (above) is among those who could not be traced to give evidence, a coroner revealed
Jay is thought to have died after deciding to walk home and then got disoriented as he tried to take a short court from Masca back to his hotel at Playa de las Americas through a treacherous gorge.
Williams-Thomas concluded the podcast by saying: ‘Jay was heavily under the influence of drink and drugs, and in his own words ‘on a mission’ met up with a convicted drugs dealer who from the evidence I have seen remains heavily involved in the supply scene.
‘Having done a thorough investigation and spoken to witnesses the conclusion is that Jay’s death is a tragic accident with no third party involvement.’
Qassim was not immediately available for comment but on his social media he appeared to have a dig at Williams-Thomas.
Posting a picture of himself he wrote:’ All I see and hear for the last nine months, all woof woof.
‘It’s getting more than silly now me personally not bothered…however there’s a family involved here profiting from their grief and 90% of you doing it are adults. Embarrassing. Lol.
‘The people that watch and give it anytime you’re just as xxxxxxxx bad. Lol.’
He signed off by saying: ‘Don’t forget to subscribe to MWT patreon,’ adding a cash and laughing emoji, patreon is a money-making platform for digital content creators where people can subscribe.
Jay Slater attended the NRG music festival with two friends before his disappearance
The coffin of Jay Slater ahead of his funeral in Accrington, Lancashire, on August 10, 2024, where mourners wore the colour blue in his memory
He and his pal Roccas appeared to be on holiday in Ibiza as an image on the latter’s social media showed a beach and pool captioned ‘Ibiza’ and there was also a video of Qassim dancing in a restaurant.
Jay’s inquest heard how traces of cocaine, ecstasy, and ketamine had been found in his body during a postmortem, and he had been ‘off his head on drugs’.
He was apparently trying to walk back from Masca to Playa de las Americas when he died – a journey that would have taken 10 hours under a hot sun and with no water.
Before he left the AirBnB he sent a picture of himself via Snapchat to Lucy which showed him on the doorstep holding a cigarette and he tagged the location.
He then made two final phone calls – one to Lucy where he said he was lost and his phone was running out of charge and one to Bradley, describing how he was walking cross rough stony ground.
The inquest also heard from another friend called Joshua Forshaw who said he had met Jay while flying to Tenerife and that he had received a message from him the morning he disappeared, saying he has stolen a watch and was trying to sell it for £10,000.
The text read: ‘Yes cuz ended up getting thrown out of there me with 2 Mali kids just took an AP off some xxxx on way to sell it for 10 quid.’
Jay’s disappearance sparked a storm of attention on social media with TikTok sharing dozens of outlandish and distressing theories which were slammed by his mother.
The inquest is due to resume at a later date.
