Jay Slater’s final moments – what we find out about what occurred as physique discovered

The 29-day search for missing teenager Jay Slater has ended in tragedy after a body was found today.

Police in Tenerife confirmed that human remains were discovered in an “inaccessible area” of Masca, close to where the 19-year-old’s phone last pinged.

While no formal identification has yet taken place, officers say the body was found with Jay’s possessions and clothes. It comes after the Civil Guard say they carried out an “incessant and discreet search” away from “curious onlookers” – despite announcing they’d called their search off after 12 days.

READ MORE: Jay Slater’s mum reveals how GoFundMe cash is to be spent as new statement issued

There’s a lot more Jay Slater coverage where this came from

They say early indications suggest he could have suffered an accidental fall.

The case has attracted worldwide interest and spawned an army of internet sleuths – many pedalling bizarre conspiracy theories from being “stuck to a cactus” to “catching the wrong bus” while others suggested darker motives.

But here’s what we do know to be true in the fascinating case of Jay Slater.

Last movements

Apprentice bricklayer Jay Slater’s first holiday abroad with friends saw him attend the three-day New Rave Generation (NRG) music festival on the Spanish island.

On the evening of June 16, he got separated from pals and travelled to a remote Airbnb in the mountains with two men.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire posted a snapchat video of himself at the £40-a-night Casa Abuela Tina, near the village of Masca, shortly before making his last phone call to a pal before he disappeared.

He is said to have told friend, Lucy Law Mae Law, that he was planning to make the 11-hour walk back to their apartment in the popular resort of Los Cristianos with only 1% battery left on his phone and no water.

He said he was lost “in the middle of nowhere” and had cut his leg on a cactus. Another pal, Brad Hargreaves, said he could hear Jay slipping on rocks during a video call.

The owner of the cottage claimed he saw Jay walking uphill into the mountains.

Another witness claimed they spoke to Jay at around 7.30am on the morning he vanished, alleging the teen asked him what time the next bus arrived.

Jay’s phone last pinged in a remote area of the Rural de Teno park and he was reported missing on June 17.

The search

A huge manhunt was launched for Jay with rescue teams scouring the remote terrain.

But Spanish police said they were calling off the search after 12 days leaving Jay’s family – including mum, Debbie, dad, Warren and brother Zak – to continue with the search efforts themselves, along with a team of volunteers.

One particular stretch of wilderness has been the centre of focus for search teams, both official and volunteers, as it is where Jay’s phone last pinged a signal.

But steep gradients, a labrynth of bushes and uneven terrain rendered the area dangerous, especially in extreme heat.

He was found in a ravine not far from the area his phone pinged after 29 days.

Machete gang victim

In the wake of Jay’s disappearance, internet sleuths dredged up his past uncovering his involvement in a machete attack in 2021.

But the victim, Tom Hilton who was left with gaping wounds when he was set upon at Old Paper Mill in Rishton by the gang who acted “like a pack of gorillas,” apparently took to social media to urge haters to “give it a rest”.

In a screenshot shared by the Manchester Evening News, he posted: “Whoever’s writing on these TikToks, give it a rest. This young lad’s missing and his family’s heartbroken, Put yourself in their shoes and stop talking nonsense on social and get this lad found mentioning my name all this and that, have some respect and help find this boy and get him back to his family.”

Jay was given an 18-month community order with 25 days rehabilitation activities and 150 hours unpaid work.

The TV detective

TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas travelled to Tenerife to assist in the search for Jay and spoke to Brit, Ayub Qassim, 31, whose Airbnb Jay visited on the night he disappeared.

Ayub told Mark how after meeting Jay at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, they headed back to the Masca holiday home where Jay was offered a sofa to crash on. Instead of staying the night, a hungry Jay left to make his way home.

According to Mark, Jay told convicted drug dealer Ayub – aka Johnny Vegas: “I’m hungry. I need to get a scran. And the woman told me I can get a bus every 10 minutes to Los Cristianos.

Mark added: “Ayub says, he says to him, mate, just chill out. I’ll drop you off in town when I wake up properly. He [Jay] went, no, no, no, no. I’m hungry. I need to get a scran. And the woman told me I can get a bus every 10 minutes to Los Cristianos.

“He [Ayub] then says he gets a call from a friend of Jay’s who says that he’s in a ditch somewhere and he’s been cut by a cactus.”

Speaking to Mail Online., Ayub said: “He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive.

“I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him.”

Qassim currently resides in Barking, East London, and was sentenced for nine years and nine months back in 2015 for selling Class A drugs.

The TV detective later said he had information to suggest Jay left the apartment “in a panic” but added there was no evidence to suggest a hostage or kidnapping situation because no credible ransom demand was made.

The Rolex

It was suggested that Jay, during the journey to the Airbnb, posted a social media video bragging about the theft of a £12,000 Rolex watch.

Mr Williams-Thomas said: “We’ve still not found evidence of a third party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance, although we have opened up links with a criminal underworld drugs associated crime.”

In recent days, cops were given a lead about a fight in relation to a missing Rolex that took place before Jay vanished.

The “scuffle” supposedly happened at the Papagayo Beach Club where the missing Brit was partying in the early hours of June 17.

The theories

The search for the missing teenager was overshadowed by countless influencers having their say on what might have happened to the 19-year-old.

Theories flying around included that he could’ve got “stuck to a cactus,” was “waiting on the wrong side of the road for a bus,” or has befriended an animal in the bush and is living like Tarzan. While others suggested there was a more sinister motive after Mark Williams-Thomas uncovered links to a criminal network.

Meanwhile cruel trolls targeted Jay’s family believing there was more to the story and questioned the motive of the GoFundMe page which has raked in over £50k.

Another theory was that he’d been kidnapped, while some suggested he’d left Tenerife on a yacht and was even spotted watching the Euros.

But it was TikTok sleuth, ChristopherTenerife who seemed to be closer to the mark when he posted a video of himself searching a large section of the mountainous region in Masca.

During the clip, he claimed that there was “no way” it was searched properly, adding: “I don’t buy into the conspiracy theories, I don’t buy into someone took Jay. When you come and stand on this terrain, if that lad was heading for the coast I honestly think he’s had a bit of misfortune.

“He’s had a fall, he’s had an accident or he’s dehydrated and passed out. I feel he’s in this ravine, in this area of Tenerife . . . missing – I honestly believe that.”

Police statements

After the discovery of a body earlier today, police in Spain and the UK released statements.

A Guardia Civil spokesman said: “The mountain rescue and intervention group of the Civil Guard has located the lifeless body of a young man in the Masca area after 29 days of constant search.

“Given the complexity of the case, the discovery has been possible thanks to the incessant and discreet search carried out by the Civil Guard during these 29 days, in which the natural space was preserved so that it would not be filled with curious onlookers.

“All indications indicate that it could be the young British man who has been missing since June 17 in the absence of full identification.

“The first investigations reveal that he could have suffered an accident fall in the inaccessible area where he was found.”

Lancashire Police said: “We have today (Monday, July 15) been notified by the Guardia Civil that they have found the body of a man and that the indications are that this is Jay Slater.

“While at this stage no formal identification has been carried out our thoughts are very much with Jay’s family at this time, and we continue to offer them our support.”

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