7 unanswered Jay Slater inquest questions from Rolex riddle to 'missing' friends

Daily Mirror

6 days ago

A new podcast series has taken a look at the disappearance of Jay Slater, who was found dead a month after going missing in Tenerife, and has spoken to key people involved
More than a year on from the tragic night Jay Slater went out to a Tenerife nightclub while holidaying with mates and never came home, an inquest is set to resume into what actually happened on that fateful night,
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His last sighting was in the early hours, and it took almost a month for his body to be discovered.
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After an inquest earlier this year posed more questions than it did answers, investigative journalist Mark Williams-Thomas has delved into the case with a fresh podcast series, chatting to the Lancashire teen's family, friends, and pivotal witnesses about his mysterious vanishing act on the Spanish isle - but still looming questions remain.
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Jay had hit up the NRG music festival at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on June 16 2024. He was later at an Airbnb apartment in the early hours, which turned out to be the last place he was seen before his remains were located on July 15 by a Spanish Civil Guard mountain rescue squad near Masca village.
Who caught the final glimpse of Jay?
Mark Williams-Thomas disclosed his conversation with Ayub Qassim, the man who leased the Airbnb, about the last time he chatted with Jay that fateful morning.
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Mr Qassim recounted: "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.."
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But Mr Williams-Thomas also disclosed that wasn't the final sighting of Jay whilst he was still alive.
Moments afterwards, Jay had a conversation with a woman who managed the Airbnb property where he'd just spent the evening.
The investigator approached the woman for questioning and suggested there would have been communication difficulties between them.
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She informed Mr Williams-Thomas that she'd directed Jay to where he could board a bus returning to southern Tenerife, after which she watched him head off up the hillside alone.
"She said 10am to him and showed him where the bus stop is but it is very obvious anyway and she said that she then saw him walk off up the hill," said Mr Williams-Thomas.
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"If he was walking back to Los Cristianos he would have walked off that [the other] way, but for some reason he walked off up the hill. She said she didn't see him after that, he was alone, he wasn't carrying anything and he definitely wasn't with anyone else.
"She said at that stage, the two black men, she believed, were inside asleep. I couldn't understand why she knew that for certain but she said they were inside and she didn't see him again."
What were Jay's final movements?
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas said Jay Slater was "buzzing" and wanted to carry on partying even though his friends left, which led him to make the decision to travel far away from his hotel. He explained that the mystery of why Jay ended up so far from his lodgings in the north of Tenerife is not complicated.
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A post-mortem revealed that Jay had alcohol and drugs in his system before his tragic fall into a ravine.
He elaborated: "Jay was still buzzing at 6am from the alcohol and drugs but his friends wanted to go home, so when Qassim told Jay that he could go back to theirs and continue partying, he jumped at the chance."
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The investigator said: "2.35am - Jay sent a cryptic text to a friend saying 'they've got a marker on me', the friend replied at 3am with the message 'you need to go home lad you're off your barnet'. Jay then replied 'you think I'm going home you must be disabled'.
"We know that at this stage Jay was very heavily under the influence of drink and drugs and it is highly likely that some paranoia was present because his friends were saying he was not making much sense and being argumentative which was very unlike Jay."
He concluded that his probe into the Airbnb stay: "It strongly rules out third party involvement (in Jay's death) from the time he was at the rental."
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Why weren't his friends at the inquest?
Lucy Law was the first to sound the alarm when Jay vanished. The pair were mates prior to the getaway and both hail from Lancashire.
In the immediate aftermath of his disappearance, she spearheaded initial search operations and provided support to the teenager's relatives upon their arrival. She was absent from the initial inquest into his death, with her family explaining she was overseas and unaware the hearing was scheduled.
Bradley Hargreaves also made the journey from Lancashire to Tenerife with Jay. He possessed knowledge of Jay's final whereabouts after receiving the location from the lad himself.
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Bradley frequently briefed journalists throughout the hunt for Jay. He too was travelling abroad during the inquest proceedings.
Brandon Hodgson was the third Lancashire pal who flew to Tenerife with Jay, and numbered amongst the final people to communicate with Jay prior to his disappearance. Investigator Mark Williams-Thomas revealed that Brandon, now 20, had been sent a message from the teenager stating: "I've started walking."
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Brandon is "liasing with police" following Lancashire Police involvement, though he was similarly abroad when the inquest occurred.
Ayub Qassim, a fellow Briton but not a hometown friend, had extended an invitation for Jay to return to his rented Airbnb in the Tenerife mountain village of Masca on the evening before he disappeared. The 31-year-old, a convicted drug dealer who also goes by "Johnny Vegas", had permitted him to spend the night. He failed to appear at the inquest into Jay's death.
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Steven 'Rocky' Roccas, who was staying with Mr Qassim at the Masca Airbnb, remains shrouded in mystery as little is known about him.
Met Police officers attempted to deliver a witness summons to his London address, only to discover he had moved on.
During the inquest, Jay's mother Debbie Duncan made an emotional appeal to those involved to step forward.
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Addressing Preston Coroner's Court, she implored: "I know you have tried to locate them but how can we ever get any understanding we know he died and he had an accident but from him leaving that holiday resort to going up to there we have read their statements and we want these people to be here sat in front of us, we want to ask them questions".
She continued with a heartfelt plea: "Our son went on holiday and didn't come back so there are questions we need to ask... please."
What happened to the Rolex?
Investigators questioned taxi drivers and bar staff working near the Papagayo Beach Club in Tenerife after a fight reportedly broke out on June 17 - the same night 19-year-old Jay Slater was partying there. During the altercation, a high-end Rolex watch was allegedly stolen.
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Although there was speculation linking Jay to the theft, police never found any evidence to support this theory. Despite the lack of proof, rumours continued to circulate, raising questions around the circumstances of Jay's disappearance. His mother, Debbie Duncan, strongly denied any suggestion that her son was involved in the theft, calling the accusation a 'vile rumour.'
However, during the inquest, it was revealed that Jay admitted stealing a £12,000 Rolex and was pictured with knives before he was found dead in Tenerife last June.
Between 5:03am and 5:52am on the morning Jay vanished, a message was sent from his phone saying: "Just took a £12k Rolly off some **** off to get 10 quid for it now." The inquest heard Jay sent a message to witness Josh Forshaw where he said: "Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP [expensive watch strap] off somebody and was on the way to sell it."
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Josh told the hearing via videolink that Jay revealed he was planning to sell the strap for "10 quid" - a slang term for £10,000. But the whereabouts of the Rolex is still unknown, as it was never found.
Why did he have knives?
Shortly before his death, Jay also sent Josh Forshaw a photo of himself with "knives down his trousers". He captioned the image "in case it kicks off".
Josh said he didn't inform Spanish police about the image. It wasn't until he returned home to the UK that he reported it to Lancashire Police. The inquest heard no explanation has been offered or uncovered as to why Jay had the knives or believed anything would "kick off".
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Why were his friends worried?
The court was told that, at 2.39am on the morning the teenager vanished, he sent a worrying message that persuaded a concerned friend to ask him to "come home".
Jay wrote: "They've got a marker on me." The friend replied: "You need to get home lad, you're off your barnet."
TV sleuth Mark Williams-Thomas, who interviewed Qassim, said that he claimed to have offered Jay a lift back to his hotel after he slept, but was turned down as he was hungry and "wanted some scran".
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Why did he walk home?
Mr Williams-Thomas, who helped expose Jimmy Savile's vile sex crimes after the TV presenter's death, revealed that Qassim said that Jay had been eager to leave the Airbnb on waking up the next morning and a neighbour had told him about a bus that could take him back.
He said: "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 ten minutes and Qassim said there was no bus and added 'Do what you like' before going to sleep."
Jay was last heard from around 8:30 BST that morning, when he called Miss Law and told her he was lost and had 1% battery on his phone before the call cut out.