Latest news with #Williams-Thomas
Daily Mirror
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
7 unanswered Jay Slater inquest questions from Rolex riddle to 'missing' friends
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, His last sighting was in the early hours, and it took almost a month for his body to be discovered. 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. 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. 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.." 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. 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. "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. 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." 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." 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. 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." 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. 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. 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. 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." 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". 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". 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.
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Daily Mirror
Missing Jay Slater witness has 'crucial evidence' about teen's final movements
Former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas described Wednesday's inquest as "disappointing" and said as a result he had "decided to speak out on a number of points" A former British police detective claims a key witness not traced by the coroner has given him "crucial evidence" about the Jay Slater case. Mark Williams-Thomas, who flew to Tenerife to work for the apprentice bricklayer's family following his disappearance, says testimony given to him by convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim provides answers as to Jay's decision-making on the day he died. Qassim and pal Steven Roccas had rented an Airbnb near Masca, which Jay visited in the hours before his death, but neither attended yesterday's inquest hearing after the court heard their whereabouts are unknown. Mr Williams-Thomas said: "The most important witness the police have also been unable to trace is Ayub Qassim. It's from Ayub I have some very crucial evidence that has not yet been made public and does provide, I believe, greater context as to why Jay left that property on that morning and took the decision to walk. "Debbie was asked yesterday was she happy for the statements of Ayub and Roccas to be read out and she said 'no, I want them to attend court'. Quite rightly so." Mr Williams-Thomas says he is happy to share his information with both the Spanish and British authorities, but he suggested the Spanish authorities have questions to answer about their investigation. He said: "At the time I offered all my evidence to the Spanish police, but they never responded. I remain happy to share everything I have with them. Equally, I'm happy to share all my information with Lancashire Police. "I think it's fair to say that after yesterday's hearing the family will feel disappointed and certainly does not leave one with the view that the police investigation has been both thorough and meticulous. To add to the questionable quality of the police investigation, one important image relating to the watch being stolen apparently has now been deleted by the police." Mr Williams-Thomas described Wednesday's inquest as "disappointing" and said as a result he had "decided to speak out on a number of points". He said: "My thoughts remain with Debbie and the family, especially as a time when they have told how poor the police investigation has been. "As the family of a loved one, who has died requiring a police investigation, all they want to know is that that investigation has been thorough, has spoken to all the witnesses, has been detailed and crucially, they have retained and collected all the evidence that relates to that investigation." Mr Williams-Thomas previously revealed that Jay had boasted of stealing an expensive watch and had been carrying two knives, which was confirmed at Wednesday's inquest. He said: "I can confirm that although Jay was pictured with two knives in his waist as he stood on the steps of that rental, the knives I'm told were not found with him. And crucially the knives, I'm told, were still in that apartment so they didn't leave that property when he left." On Wednesday, the inquest at Preston Coroner's Court heard Jay, 19, had a fractured skull and party drugs in his system when he was found in a remote area of Tenerife and died from 'devastating' injuries after vanishing in the mountains of the island in the Canaries for 28 days last summer. Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, had flown out to attend a music festival with pals before becoming separated from them after attending the NRG Festival in the Los Cristianos area. Toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin told the hearing there were difficulties checking for the presence of drugs or alcohol as the body was severely decomposed. But she said analysis showed traces of the presence of MDMA and MDA, commonly known as ecstasy, along with cocaine and alcohol. Spanish samples also showed the presence of ketamine when analysed, which was not found in the UK samples, the hearing was told. Jay's distraught mum Debbie asked coroner Dr James Adeley to adjourn the hearing until several witnesses who could not be located, including Jay's friends, are found. As well as Qassim and Roccas, they also include Jay's pals Lucy Law, Brandon Hodges and Bradley Geoghegan, who also uses the surname Hargreaves. Mr Williams-Thomas said: "I note the police have been unable to find Lucy Law to attend the hearing. I have many recordings and conversations with Lucy, who fully co-operated right from the very beginning and helped me piece together the events of that evening and of the morning Jay left." He added: "Whilst I took a great deal of criticism throughout my coverage of the case, looking back, it's clear, now that the evidence has come out of court and in particular with regard to pathologists, that sadly it was a tragic accident. There was no third party involvement, which I was very clear to make an assessment on, in the very early days."
Yahoo
14-02-2025
- Yahoo
Oscar Pistorius's new life in a millionaire's mansion with a lookalike girlfriend
In his low-key new world, Oscar Pistorius is attempting to live up to the message on his back tattoo: 'I do not run like a man running aimlessly'. There have been caretaking shifts volunteering at a local church and the launch of a new charity as he seeks a sense of purpose on parole. But Pistorius feels most like his old self when the blades are up and running again, pounding the track at his uncle's multi-million pound South African mansion. 'He's working hard physically at the moment – running, in the gym and trying to get his body back into shape,' explains Mark Williams-Thomas, a detective-turned-broadcaster who remains in regular contact with Pistorius. 'Exercise has always been so important to Oscar. He knows how important it is to keep fit and stay healthy. When he came out [of prison], he was a shadow of himself. In the first early days, I would speak to him and he was just profoundly exhausted, mentally and physically. He is much better now.' It is 13 months since Pistorius's release on parole from Atteridgeville Correctional Centre and now exactly 12 years since he killed Reeva Steenkamp, who was his girlfriend of three months, at his house in Pretoria. To this day, Pistorius claims the four hollow-point bullets he shot through a bathroom door in the early hours were aimed at a possible intruder. Nevertheless, an initial conviction of culpable homicide was overturned in favour of a verdict of murder by the Supreme Court in 2015. Now there is plenty of time to reflect for Pistorius. There is volunteering work to be done sweeping floors at a nearby church but a vast amount of time is spent behind the 15ft walls of the luxurious home in Wakkerstroom owned by his uncle Albert. Pistorius Snr, a Donald Trump-supporting successful businessman, is fiercely protective, claiming before Pistorius's release that his nephew had 'matured'. This Valentine's Day, there is said to be a new blonde girlfriend – Rita Greyling, a business management consultant from a millionaire family who live nearby Pistorius's base. The relationship has been met with shock by the Steenkamp family. Older sister Simone Cowburn reportedly said: 'Is she nuts?' Steenkamp's mother June has consistently said she would be 'concerned for the safety of any woman' who comes into contact with him. But Williams-Thomas, a former Surrey police detective who remains the only broadcaster to interrogate Pistorius on camera, refuses to condemn his 2016 interviewee. As the family attempt to map out his next move, Williams-Thomas offers the minority view that he deserves a chance at a 'second life'. 'He will forever live with what happened to him, and he's never shied away from that,' says Williams-Thomas. 'He's always accepted the responsibility for what he did. He took someone's life, and he'll live with that for the whole of his life. He remains at his uncle's house and he's trying to work and provide for society. I have got to know Oscar and his family and friends and he is kind and genuine. He is not this dangerous, arrogant man as painted by so many and I think we as a society have a duty to allow him to move on and try and live his second life as it were.' Williams-Thomas had visited Pistorius multiple times at both Kgosi Mampuru II jail and Atteridgeville, where he spent the majority of his prison term. 'There were floods in one of the prisons he was at,' he adds. 'They weren't clean. You had to watch your back the whole time and look out for other people. There was a hierarchy system within jails and he was a part of all of that. 'He ended his sentence in a prison which was gentler than his original prison. The original one was really nasty. But no South African prisons are easy. People say, 'Oh, he had a cushy life because of who he was.' I saw first-hand he had a tough life in prison. There was no benefit for him because of who he was at all. He literally was a prisoner like everybody else.' Others close to the case will argue this was the least Pistorius deserved. Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and face of an anti-bullying campaign, was about to return to her old school to talk to girls about gender-based violence when she was killed. Pistorius, meanwhile, stood accused of having a history of controlling and abusing women. Text messages between the couple were particularly damning. One former girlfriend Samantha Taylor also said she feared he would kill her, saying in one interview that she once hid his gun after he flew into a rage at her. Those who had previously cheered the sporting feats of disability sport's first millionaire celebrity felt betrayed. Six gold medals over three Paralympic Games, and his history-making appearance at the Olympics in London 2012 made him the second most talked about athlete that year behind Usain Bolt. A picture painted in his trial of a volatile, hot-tempered and aggressive enigma with an appetite for fast cars, beautiful women and guns left only his inner circle still convinced Reeva's death was a mistake. In 2016, between jail stints and house arrest while awaiting a new sentence, he agreed to give Williams-Thomas his only television interview. 'I did take Reeva's life and I have to live with that,' Pistorius told Williams-Thomas as they sat down at the same property he now lives in under his five-year parole terms. 'I can smell the blood. I can feel the warmness of it on my hands. And to know that that's your fault, that that's what you've done.' Williams-Thomas, who also fronted the ITV Exposure series that first named Jimmy Savile as a prolific paedophile, now says of his time with Pistorius: 'It was a mad time. We did it all covertly. I spent a lot of time with him and spent hours and hours sitting talking to him. He was really worried about the film going out and how it would come across, and how he would be portrayed. We just said, 'Look, just be yourself'.' Pistorius pledged at the time: 'If I was afforded the opportunity of redemption I would like to help the less fortunate'. Over the past year, he has been given a chance to live up to that pledge. His parole terms have banned him from speaking to the press. Instead, his activities on LinkedIn offer the only available direct clues around his next moves. He appears to have attempted to launch a charity called ReAble, although it is unclear what has happened to the organisation after he stood down as chief executive in November. He remains active on the site, however, and three weeks ago 'liked' a post from Greyling stating she was starting a new position as head of business development for the region at Dutch consultancy firm Inlumi. Williams-Thomas, who maintains he still believes Pistorius's version of events, suggests the 'redemption' that Pistorius craved in his conversation with him eight years ago is now within sight. 'I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down on me then she would want me to live that life,' Pistorius had told him. There is much work to be done, however, before the Steenkamp family start believing him. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
14-02-2025
- Telegraph
Oscar Pistorius's new life in a millionaire's mansion with a lookalike girlfriend
In his low-key new world, Oscar Pistorius is attempting to live up to the message on his back tattoo: 'I do not run like a man running aimlessly'. There have been caretaking shifts volunteering at a local church and the launch of a new charity as he seeks a sense of purpose on parole. But Pistorius feels most like his old self when the blades are up and running again, pounding the track at his uncle's multi-million pound South African mansion. 'He's working hard physically at the moment – running, in the gym and trying to get his body back into shape,' explains Mark Williams-Thomas, a detective-turned-broadcaster who remains in regular contact with Pistorius. 'Exercise has always been so important to Oscar. He knows how important it is to keep fit and stay healthy. When he came out [of prison], he was a shadow of himself. In the first early days, I would speak to him and he was just profoundly exhausted, mentally and physically. He is much better now.' It is 13 months since Pistorius's release on parole from Atteridgeville Correctional Centre and now exactly 12 years since he killed Reeva Steenkamp, who was his girlfriend of three months, at his house in Pretoria. To this day, Pistorius claims the four hollow-point bullets he shot through a bathroom door in the early hours were aimed at a possible intruder. Nevertheless, an initial conviction of culpable homicide was overturned in favour of a verdict of murder by the Supreme Court in 2015. Now there is plenty of time to reflect for Pistorius. There is volunteering work to be done sweeping floors at a nearby church but a vast amount of time is spent behind the 15ft walls of the luxurious home in Wakkerstroom owned by his uncle Albert. Pistorius Snr, a Donald Trump-supporting successful businessman, is fiercely protective, claiming before Pistorius's release that his nephew had 'matured'. This Valentine's Day, there is said to be a new blonde girlfriend – Rita Greyling, a business management consultant from a millionaire family who live nearby Pistorius's base. The relationship has been met with shock by the Steenkamp family. Older sister Simone Cowburn reportedly said: 'Is she nuts?' Steenkamp's mother June has consistently said she would be 'concerned for the safety of any woman' who comes into contact with him. But Williams-Thomas, a former Surrey police detective who remains the only broadcaster to interrogate Pistorius on camera, refuses to condemn his 2016 interviewee. As the family attempt to map out his next move, Williams-Thomas offers the minority view that he deserves a chance at a 'second life'. 'He will forever live with what happened to him, and he's never shied away from that,' says Williams-Thomas. 'He's always accepted the responsibility for what he did. He took someone's life, and he'll live with that for the whole of his life. He remains at his uncle's house and he's trying to work and provide for society. I have got to know Oscar and his family and friends and he is kind and genuine. He is not this dangerous, arrogant man as painted by so many and I think we as a society have a duty to allow him to move on and try and live his second life as it were.' 'No South African prisons are easy – he had tough life' Williams-Thomas had visited Pistorius multiple times at both Kgosi Mampuru II jail and Atteridgeville, where he spent the majority of his prison term. 'There were floods in one of the prisons he was at,' he adds. 'They weren't clean. You had to watch your back the whole time and look out for other people. There was a hierarchy system within jails and he was a part of all of that. 'He ended his sentence in a prison which was gentler than his original prison. The original one was really nasty. But no South African prisons are easy. People say, 'Oh, he had a cushy life because of who he was.' I saw first-hand he had a tough life in prison. There was no benefit for him because of who he was at all. He literally was a prisoner like everybody else.' Others close to the case will argue this was the least Pistorius deserved. Steenkamp, a 29-year-old model and face of an anti-bullying campaign, was about to return to her old school to talk to girls about gender-based violence when she was killed. Pistorius, meanwhile, stood accused of having a history of controlling and abusing women. Text messages between the couple were particularly damning. One former girlfriend Samantha Taylor also said she feared he would kill her, saying in one interview that she once hid his gun after he flew into a rage at her. Those who had previously cheered the sporting feats of disability sport's first millionaire celebrity felt betrayed. Six gold medals over three Paralympic Games, and his history-making appearance at the Olympics in London 2012 made him the second most talked about athlete that year behind Usain Bolt. A picture painted in his trial of a volatile, hot-tempered and aggressive enigma with an appetite for fast cars, beautiful women and guns left only his inner circle still convinced Reeva's death was a mistake. 'I can still smell the blood' In 2016, between jail stints and house arrest while awaiting a new sentence, he agreed to give Williams-Thomas his only television interview. 'I did take Reeva's life and I have to live with that,' Pistorius told Williams-Thomas as they sat down at the same property he now lives in under his five-year parole terms. 'I can smell the blood. I can feel the warmness of it on my hands. And to know that that's your fault, that that's what you've done.' Williams-Thomas, who also fronted the ITV Exposure series that first named Jimmy Savile as a prolific paedophile, now says of his time with Pistorius: 'It was a mad time. We did it all covertly. I spent a lot of time with him and spent hours and hours sitting talking to him. He was really worried about the film going out and how it would come across, and how he would be portrayed. We just said, 'Look, just be yourself'.' Pistorius pledged at the time: 'If I was afforded the opportunity of redemption I would like to help the less fortunate'. Over the past year, he has been given a chance to live up to that pledge. His parole terms have banned him from speaking to the press. Instead, his activities on LinkedIn offer the only available direct clues around his next moves. He appears to have attempted to launch a charity called ReAble, although it is unclear what has happened to the organisation after he stood down as chief executive in November. He remains active on the site, however, and three weeks ago 'liked' a post from Greyling stating she was starting a new position as head of business development for the region at Dutch consultancy firm Inlumi. Williams-Thomas, who maintains he still believes Pistorius's version of events, suggests the 'redemption' that Pistorius craved in his conversation with him eight years ago is now within sight. 'I would like to believe that if Reeva could look down on me then she would want me to live that life,' Pistorius had told him. There is much work to be done, however, before the Steenkamp family start believing him.
