Jay Slater 'armed himself with two knives for protection' hours before vanishing
The 19-year-old's disappearance on Tenerife a year ago captivated millions on social media, with TikTok, Facebook, Instagram and X flooded with a mix of conspiracy theories about drug cartels and claims about Jay's past.
Now celebrity investigator Mark Williams-Thomas is releasing a two-part podcast featuring new accounts of that fateful night from some of the last people to see and hear from the teenager.
They include first-hand accounts from Ayub Qassim, the convicted drug dealer who Jay accompanied back to an AirBnB, and the teen's best friend Lucy Law.
Speaking to Williams-Thomas for the podcast, titled Jay Slater: The Investigation , Qassim reveals his final conversation with Jay, saying: 'He (Jay) said to me pal I'm off, this woman told me I can get a bus every 10 minutes, I told him that he's mad, there's no bus that's coming here every 10 minutes, chill out for a bit and I'll drop you off later on.
'He said, 'No, no I've got to go to Los Cristianos, I need to scram, I need to chip out'. There's nothing more that I could do. I saw him walk off maybe down the steps. I maybe shut the door and said if you need me…'
He also describes picking up Lucy and two of Jay's other pals to go and look for him.
Listeners hear Qassim telling the former detective: '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 the last comment 'is really significant new information'.
He 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.'
Elsewhere, Lucy claims police in Tenerife 'weren't taking me seriously' when she first reported him missing.
She also reveals how Jay told her he was 'going on a mission' the night before he vanished – and before sending a photo to a friend of himself carrying knives.
'On the night before, when I was still awake, before we went home, he messaged me saying 'I'm going on a mission', then I've gone home, tried to find him…,' she tells Williams-Thomas.
'Woke up to the call from Brandon in the morning, 'oh my God he's in the mountains, trying to walk…. He's said 'can't go back there, can't go back there' (to the Airbnb).'
Of the clip Jay sent of himself arming up with the knives, she says: 'Took the kitchen knives from the Airbnb and put them down his pants, lifted his top up and shown it to him 'Just in case anything kicks off'. I'm like…'
She adds: 'It could have just been a coincidence but with him also saying about going on a mission…'
Qassim describes how the case turned him into 'public enemy number one'.
He says: 'Lucy (Law) has my Snapchat, so has Brad (Hargreaves) we have each other on social media. I can chat to the mum, I don't need any of this. I've got journalists turning up at my house.
'I genuinely, from the bottom of my heart, let a guy come to my house, because he said to me 'mate they've all left' and chatting to them, they said he wanted to carry on partying. More Trending
'I'm black, it's an unfortunate situation. I'm being nice in letting someone stay at mine and now I'm public enemy number one.'
The inquest into Jay's death was halted last month when his tearful mum Debbie Duncan begged for some of those who saw him last – including Lucy and Qassim – to be called as witnesses.
'How can we ever get any understanding?' she said.
'There's things we want to question. We want these people to be sat in front of us, because our son went on holiday and didn't come back.'
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
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