Jay Slater travelled back to an Airbnb with Ayub Quassim and another man he met while on holiday in Tenerife for a three-day festival. Ayub Quassim has now broken his silence about his last moments with Jay before the teen attempted to walk back to his hotel 11-hours away
Image: Police Handout/MEN Media)
The mystery man Jay Slater met at an Airbnb in Tenerife has broken his silence and shared previously unknown details about his final known movements.
Ayub Qassim had invited Jay back to his rented accommodation at 5am, hours before he vanished on June 17 after attending the three-day NRG festival on the island. The Briton said Jay arrived at his £40-a-night holiday home alive, and had also left alive. Spanish police quizzed Qassim and the unnamed friend he was travelling with, and subsequently determined them to be “irrelevant” to the investigation.
Now, Qassim has shed light on Jay’s last known hours, insisting their was no quarrel between them and revealing what he was doing at the mountain home in the first place.
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Image:
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He told The Mail he had let the 19-year-old stay at his because he “had nowhere else to go” and claimed all his friends “had left him”. Qassim stated he knew Jay through friends and said he wouldn’t have brought him back to his rented cottage if he didn’t know him and said he was doing Jay a “favour”.
He said: “If I’d fallen out with him would he even come to mine? There were no problems. You’ve seen the last images of him with his red blanket around him.
“I don’t know if he had beef elsewhere because I don’t know him that well, I only know him through friends. 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 remained tight-lipped over his thoughts on exactly what has happened to Jay, and simply said: “Everyone knows each other. I’m not going to slander anyone. He’s a cool guy, Jay. He ain’t got a problem with me, I haven’t got a problem with him or his mates. We just all talk to each other and everything was sweet.”
Since speaking to Spanish police about Jay’s disappearance, Qassim has returned from the trip to his family’s flat in Barking, East London.
He has since been identified as the ringleader of a London-based crime gang who imported heroin and crack cocaine to Cardiff. The police raided the property years ago, he was found with drugs, cash, mobile phones and digital scales. Qassim was convicted and sentenced to nine years and nine months.
He booked an Airbnb holiday cottage, Casa Abuela Tina, near the remote village of Masca for £40 a night under the name Ayub Abdul.
Jay is also known to have left the cottage at the same time to to catch a bus back to his holiday apartment. A witness reported that he asked her about the next bus’s arrival. When she informed him that the next one wouldn’t come until 10 am, he is believed to have attempted the 11-hour walk back to his holiday accommodation.
Jay allegedly told friends on Snapchat he’d stolen a £12k Rolex watch the night before he disappeared.
Detective Mark confirmed the news, and said: “We know that shortly before 6am on Monday the seventh of June, Jay left the area of Veronica Strip in [Playa de] Las Americas in a Seat Leon hire car with two males casually known to him.
“Jay and a number of his friends had spent time with them both over the previous two days. All three males including Jay travelled north by the main motorway, the TF1, to go to the two males’ holiday rental, Casa de Abuela Tina, which was about an hour’s drive away.
“On route, Jay posted a Snapchat saying he had stolen a £12,000 Rolex from a person. We’ve been unable to validate this in terms of reporting. However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject to later conversation between the friends.”
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