Three weeks on from Jay Slater’s disappearance in Tenerife, experts have taken the search for the missing teen into their own hands.
Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was last seen by locals on the morning of June 17 after partying at the three-day NRG festival. Instead of going back to his accommodation south of the island at Los Christianos, he extended his night out with two British men. They drove him to their Airbnb rental in the middle of the rural village of Masca, north of the island, where he stayed briefly before wanting to make his way back to his hotel, where friends Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves had been staying. He called Lucy as he tried to make his way back to the tourist town, however his phone suddenly died.
It’s believed Jay missed a local bus and instead of returning to the Airbnb and waiting for the next one, he attempted the 11-hour trek. His disappearance sparked a major search operation by police, which was formally called off on Sunday, June 30. But it hasn’t stopped his desperate family and expert volunteers working on the case, and as a result, new theories about his whereabouts continue to come to light.
‘Criminal network links’
In the latest update on the missing persons case, former Metropolitan Police cop Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed the disappearance of Jay has links to an “established criminal network”. His comments came after it was revealed that one of the last people to be with the apprentice bricklayer was found to be a convicted drug dealer. Ayub Qassim, 31, known as ‘Jonny Vegas – who drove the missing teen to the deserted holiday rental – was imprisoned nine years ago for orchestrating a scheme to flood Wales with Class A drugs. TV detective Mark, who flew to Tenerife to help Jay’s family, claimed further investigations into Jay’s disappearance had turned up underworld links.
In an online video, the ex-cop said: “As part of this investigation we have sought to speak with all of the people Jay had contact with whilst in Tenerife. The result of this digging has opened up an established criminal network with links to drugs, violent crime and theft. At this stage I cannot expand any further on what we now know. I’m unable to say if this network has anything to do with Jay’s disappearance but remain open-minded as we continue to investigate.”
Final known moments with convicted drug dealer
Mark Williams-Thomas also provided information about his alleged conversation with Ayub Qassim, the man who drove Jay to the Airbnb rental where he was last seen. Sharing a video, the TV cop 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. In the car they played music all the way, they stopped once to get a can of fizzy drink, and there was three of them in the car, Jay in the back and Qassim’s friend in the front.”
He continued to explain that once they were at the Airbnb, his unnamed friend opened the door, and went to the left and went straight to sleep. He said Jay was given a blanket and phone charger before he later left to get a bus that ‘comes every 10 minutes’.
“Jay walked in, and Qassim walked in behind him, went upstairs, and got him a red blanket.” The TV detective added: “Qassim said ‘Yo bro, the sofa’s for you there’ and he gave him a towel if he needed a shower. Jay also asked for a cigarette and Qassim gave him a Camel cigarette and left it on the side. Jay then asked for a charger and then went into Qassim’s friend’s room, while he was sleeping and got the charger.”
Mr Williams-Thomas added that Qassim told him he then went to sleep and was awoken by the sound of the door buzzing. He added: “Qassim opened the door and spoke to a woman and man and they told him to move his car, which he did and he said he could see Jay chatting to a woman.
“He said that after moving the car, he came back and saw Jay had his trainers on and he told Qassim that the woman had said he could get a bus ‘every ten minutes’. Qassim said to him “Chill, mate, I’ll drop you off later, when I wake up’ but he said Jay said ‘nah, I need some scran, I’m hungry’.
“Jay said he had been told by the woman the bus to Los Cristianos was every 10 minutes and Qassim said there was no bus and added ‘Do what you like’ before going to sleep.” The 31-year-old, along with an unnamed friend, has been in touch with the Spanish police and extended his stay in Tenerife to assist with the investigation.
Police previously said the pair have ‘no relevance’ to the missing persons investigation. A Snapchat photo sent by Jat to his friends at 7.30am the day he disappeared shows him with a cigarette in a red blanket.
Qassim previously told MailOnline about what happened: “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.”
Qassim added: “The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive.” Continuing his update, Mark said: “The evidence still strongly supports that Jay left the Airbnb suddenly, walked for thirty minutes before wandering off-road on the Monday where he dropped a location ping. However, as part of this investigation, we sought to identify and speak with as many people as Jay had contact with whilst in Tenerife.
“The result of this digging has opened up an established criminal network with links to drugs, violent crime and theft. You will appreciate that at this stage I cannot expand any further on what we now know. However, at this stage I’m unable to say if this network has anything to do with Jay’s disappearance.”
Frustrating ‘riddle’
Jay’s father Warren Slater finds it difficult to believe that no one saw his son walking to the valley area. He told the press that he had timed the walk from the Airbnb to the valley they were searching, and it had taken 90 minutes. The road is a busy tourist route with hundreds of visitors arriving each day to take pictures of the stunning scenery.
He said: “You’ve walked from that B&B at 9am, you’ve walked all the way up here, he’s a young fit lad, all the way. You’re trying to tell me no car, no one’s seen him at half past 10. Why would you go down there? You’ve got to the end, why go any further? Why would you leave this road? You haven’t got a clue where you are.
“And no one else has seen him, one woman, he’s knocked on her door, she said at 10 and he went the wrong way. This morning I saw her, she didn’t want to stop. It’s somebody’s son, you know if you’re the last person to see someone’s son you try your damndest to help, don’t you?”
The dad, 58, joined a team of 10 volunteers on Saturday to scour the mountainous region in Tenerife. The group spent several hours, in baking 25C heat, as they searched the Valley of Barranco de Juan Lopez, close to the village of Masca.
Speaking about the rugged terrain, Warren said: “It’s the fourth time I’ve done this. It was hard, I nearly put my eye out.” Voicing the family’s frustration about the investigation, he added: “Tell me where I look, I can only go off the last sighting, the woman in that restaurant saw him going the wrong way. Which human being lets a young boy go the wrong way? Everything stinks. It’s just a riddle and I don’t know the answer.”
‘Tossed phone’
In the fortnight following the teen’s disappearance, Spanish police used his last registered location from where his phone died. However an expert has suggested that Jay’s phone could have been thrown into the hills, which could explain why it last pinged in a dangerous and impossible-to-navigate area.
After having a conversation with an ex-British Army officer working on the ground, reporter Nick Pisa said the mobile’s GPS location could only be possible “if the phone was thrown” into the terrain. He told GB News: “We’re not obviously being kept up to speed, but [the former officer] did tell me that he thought where the ping came from was rather surprising because it was really steep to get to, and it was covered in undergrowth and cacti.
“He said to get there you’d have to need a machete. Or he suggested, someone had thrown the phone into that growth.”
‘Alive in the hills’
Missing person expert Charlie Hedges has however advised that not all is lost, revealing the missing teen could still be alive if he’s managed to sustain himself on rainwater and plants. The reassurance came after army reservist Juan García criticised police for calling off the search too soon.
Search professional García told The Times: “Two weeks is too premature to end the search. [Slater] could be alive somewhere — someone can drink from rainwater and eat plants. The family should not give up hope.” Reflecting on this theory during a separate interview with The Sun, ex-detective Hedges remarked: “It’s certainly possible. I think it’s important to let the investigation keep all lines of inquiry open until they’re proven to be not viable. It is quite a long time to survive without food. Depends on how much rain there is, as to whether there’s sufficient water.”
