Jay Slater update as mystery man who let teen stay at Tenerife Airbnb issues 12-word statement

A man who was at the Airbnb where Jay Slater stayed on the night before he vanished has broken his silence about the encounter with the missing British teenager.

It's been over a fortnight since anyone has heard from Jay, and the extensive search operation in the rugged uplands of northwest Tenerife was halted last Sunday by the authorities.

The 19-year-old from Lancashire went missing after he left an Airbnb in Masca village, where he had stayed with two men following a night out at a club in the south of Tenerife. He rang his mate Lucy Law on the day he went missing, telling her he was trying to trek back to the south, a hefty walk that would take around 11 hours, but then his mobile died.

Now, one of the men he crashed with at the Airbnb has spoken out, telling MailOnline: "He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive."

READ MORE: Jay Slater 'took €14k Rolex' and was 'scared' leaving Airbnb before vanishing

READ MORE: Missing Jay Slater's dad breaks silence with heartbreaking question about search

Ayub Qassim is believed to have invited Jay back to the holiday apartment after going to a rave in the south of Tenerife before Jay disappeared the next day, reports the Mirror.

Ayub, 31, who booked the Airbnb under the moniker Ayub Abdul, has already spoken with Spanish police, along with another man. The pair are understood to have stayed in Tenerife for another day after Jay disappeared to talk with police who have previously said they were “irrelevant” to the investigation.

The Airbnb where Jay stayed
(Image: PA)

Mr Qassim remarked: "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."

Back in Barking, east London, Mr Qassim has refuted any claims of an argument with Jay.

Undated family hand out photo issued by LBT Global, of Jay Slater
(Image: Family Handout/LBT Global/PA)

Meanwhile, ex-British police detective Mark Williams-Thomas has questioned why Jay didn't head back to the Airbnb to charge his phone or grab some water, noting that Jay had "posted a Snapchat saying that he'd taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person", believed to be linked to an incident at the party.

Williams-Thomas added: "We've received information that would suggest that Jay left the rental property feeling scared and he would not return to the rental, even though that would have been the most sensible course of action."

Ex Britrish Detective Mark Williams-Thomas
(Image: (Image: Stan Kujawa))

He also mentioned in the video: "We've been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft" but highlighted: "However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject of later conversation between the friends."

Detailing Jay's movements on the day he disappeared, Mr Williams-Thomas, who has probed a string of high-profile missing persons cases, claimed: "The evidence is that Jay walked off on the rental, walked for about 30 minutes, and then sent his location at 8.49am and 8.50am. And we know that he was at that stage off the road on a track with loose stones."

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