Drug seller who spent remaining hours with tragic Jay Slater in rented Airbnb earlier than he plunged to his demise in distant Tenerife breaks his silence

The convicted drug dealer who brought Jay Slater back to his remote Airbnb has spoken out to deny his involvement in the tragic teenager’s death in Tenerife.

Ayub Qassim, 31, invited Jay, 19, back to his rented Airbnb in the mountainous Masca region after the teen had been partying at the final night of the NRG festival at Papagayo, in Playa de las Americas.

Qassim was one of the last people to see Jay after driving him back to his Airbnb with another friend, known as ‘Rocky’, in the early hours of June 17.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished shortly after leaving the Airbnb and his body was found a month later in the mountainous area later following a 29-day search that was derailed by wild conspiracy theories.

A post-mortem found that the apprentice bricklayer died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height. His death would have been instantaneous.

Qassim has now given a lengthy two-hour interview, detailing his final moments with Jay and denying any involvement in his death.

Speaking on The Central Club podcast, Qassim said: ‘The moment he [Jay] said “I’m going” and I shut my door, that’s me out of this.’

He added: ‘Sorry I couldn’t be your foreign suspect, I apologise, it’s not me for this whole situation.’

Qassim, from Barking, east London, was jailed nine years ago for being the mastermind behind a sophisticated operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs.

As one of the last people to see Jay, questions were asked over what he knew about the teen’s final moments. 

Jay’s disappearance sparked a month-long search effort, which garnered worldwide attention, but it came to a tragic end in the mountainous area of north-west of the island when his body was discovered down a deep and treacherous ravine. 

Sharing his story with the podcast host whom he met in prison, Qassim revealed how he has been left with ‘survivor’s guilt’ but also found it ‘annoying’ that he had offered Jay a lift home and felt a ‘told you so’ moment when he went missing.

Qassim claims that he, Rocky and Jay went for a kebab on the strip before driving back to the Airbnb where they arrived at around 6.30am-6.45am. 

He claims he then gave Jay a phone charger, a blanket, a towel and some cigarettes before he went upstairs to bed while Jay went to sleep on the sofa and Rocky went straight to bed.

Qassim says he has since been told that Jay was texting friends with concerns over being back at the Airbnb.

He explained: ‘From speaking to my friend, he messaged them during the night saying, “Are these lads sweet?” so obviously something was through in his head.

‘My pal did say he messaged to say, “Is your pal arlight upstairs” and my guy said “Come off it, he is sweet”. That was about 10-20 minutes before he left. I do believe there was a lot of texting back and forth.’

Qassim has also claimed that TV detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who flew to Tenerife to help the investigation, told him that Jay was carrying ‘two knives’.

When asked if he thought Jay was ‘fleeing’ from him, he said: ‘I wouldn’t saying he was fleeing from me, I was just in my bed. Other than giving him a blanket, pillow and charger, moving my car, anytime we were in the gaff I was in my bed. 

‘If anything when that Mark detective guy said he had two knives or something along those lines, I still don’t know if that’s true, I thought I could have been in danger. 

‘Let’s not forget that. Thank god nothing happened in that gaff, on his part or my part.

‘He obviously didn’t want to stay there because he wanted food even though we had food prior. I could tell he didn’t want to be there.’

Qassim revealed how the Airbnb buzzer went off at around 8am but that Jay, who was downstairs, did not open the door because he was ‘s***ing it’.

Instead, Qassim opened the door to Ofelia Medina Hernandez, her husband and their adult son who asked him to move his car.

It was at this point that Jay asked Ofelia how to get home and was allegedly told there was a bus every 10 minutes.

With no bus arriving, Jay was last seen trying to walk the 10-hour journey back to his accomodation into Tenerife.

Jay is believed to have lost his footing and fallen while desperately trying to climb through the ravine to try and return to his hotel.

An autopsy later found he suffered broken bones but died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height, and his death would have been instantaneous.

In the days after his disappearance, multiple videos appeared of Jay looking worse for wear in nightclubs.

However, Qassim claims that Jay seemed fine when he was sat in the backseat of his car as they drove back to the Airbnb.

He said: ‘He wasn’t off his face, let’s get that clear. He might have been off his face on the NRG videos, five hours prior. I was driving, I was alright, Rocky was sleeping and he [Jay] was pretty much chill.’

An immediate focus of the investigation became a post Jay uploaded on Snapchat of him having a cigarette, with the location tagged at the door of the apartment at 7.30am BST.

Then two phone calls emerged. His friend Lucy Law received a call at 8.30am where Jay said he was lost, had 1 per cent charge and needed water.

In a video call to their other friend, Brad Hargreaves, Jay was walking on rough, stony ground, saying he was making the long walk back. 

Speaking about Jay leaving, Qassim said: ‘When came back to front door [after moving the car], Jay was walking out and he said, “Bro I’m going to get off”.   

‘I was thinking I’ve got to question it, you’re all the way here, why are you gonna get off?’

‘And he said “I need to get off, this woman said I can catch a bus every 10 minutes, I’m going to get going”.’

Qassim claims that he offered to drop Jay off later but the teen said he wanted to get food even though the three of them had eaten a kebab around ’20 minutes’ before they came back to the Airbnb. 

He added: ‘When someone telling you that they just want to go, you don’t know what’s going on in their head. They just want to go.

‘I’m not going to be like “you’re not going, you’re staying”. I’m just thinking you’re safe sat on the bus stop.

‘If I would have held him there, this would have turned into a different situation, then I would have been accused of hostage. 

‘I went back to bed, shut the door. Then my boy rang me, the one I knew him through and said “my man’s missing”.

‘My reaction was, “Mate, I f***ing told him I’d give him a lift in a couple hours, if only he waited. That’s your lot’s problem. I’m going to bed. Your mate is sweet, he came here in one piece, he left in one piece, I did my part”.’

He later added: ‘You get annoyed. I tried to give you a lift, you get one of those I told you so moments.’

Qassim revealed that a group of his friends, including Jay, went to watch an England Euros match altogether on June 16. Qassim and his friend then went elsewhere while Jay and his friends went to the NRG rave.

They all linked up together back on the strip later on, he claimed.

Qassim then claims that Jay’s friend Brad wanted to go home but that Jay ‘refused’ to go back. 

‘I don’t know if the thought we were going to be out until the morning,’ he said.

‘He was like “Bro, matey’s left, he’s gone back to the apartment, I ain’t got the key or anything, is it cool if I chill with you lot?”.

Qassim, who was waiting for a friend to finish work, said he replied: ‘”Look bro, I’m just waiting for someone that works here, once she’s rolling I’m chilling, I’ll give you the sofa downstairs, mind you it’s a bit of a drive away”. 

‘He’s like “no no, it’s sound, no problem”.’

Detailing the drive back, Qassim said: ‘We are all in the car, my pal Rocky is in the passenger, Jay is in the back, I’m driving.

‘I was driving from where we were in Playa de las Americas to Masca, I smoked the road, I did it in half an hour. They were all saying it was an hour and a half afterwards.  

‘Just before we got to mountains, I was just blasting music, I got a couple drinks, Pepsi, Sprite, a little variety. I got both of them a Pepsi. 

He said that Jay was ‘just sat in the back on his phone’ and that there wasn’t much conversation. 

He added: ‘We just meandering around these roads, I’m trying to get a few snaps because the views are amazing, you are above the clouds. It’s like nothing I’ve seen in my life.’

When they arrived back, Rocky was fast asleep in the passenger seat. Qassim has shared new video of him and Jay laughing while Rocky was sleeping. 

‘I ended up waking him up saying we’re back now,’ he said.

‘He walked in and went straight to bed, Jay followed behind, then I followed.’

Jay left the Airbnb around an hour and a half later. He was last seen by Ofelia before plunging to his death. Qassim said he felt a sense of ‘closure’ when he discovered Jay had died, despite it not being the desired outcome.

His body was not discovered for 29 days, during which time a GoFundMe was set up by Lucy for the family.

Last month, Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, thanked well-wishers for their kind donations as they raised £72,821 in total. 

She also revealed what the money had been spent on, which included giving the teenager the ‘send off he deserved’. 

His funeral took place at Accrington Cemetery Chapel in Lancashire on August 10.

Ms Duncan’s post on November 21 read: ‘We would like to thank all you beautiful people who supported us throughout this heartbreaking time. Jay really did touch the hearts of the nation and it truly showed us how much love you all shared with us.

‘With your support we were able to stay in Tenerife until we got our beautiful boy back to the UK.

‘We were able to fund the the Signi search team from the Netherlands who supported us throughout the days when Jay was found.

‘Jay truly deserved the send off we were able to give him and we thank you all for that.

We have been overwhelmed with messages of support from all over the globe and will be eternally grateful to all of you.

‘Our journey of trauma and grief will continue for ever and we will never recover. We lost our beautiful boy in extremely tragic circumstances whilst the world watched.

‘We do not and will never understand how Jay’s story reached every corner of the globe.

‘Our journey is far from over but the burdens eased with your support. We would also like to thank the person who looked after Jay’s fundraiser page whom we have been in constant contact with, especially whilst in Tenerife, the support and advice you gave will not be forgotten.

‘Donations will be turned off with this final message. Jay’s family and friends are trying to come to terms and process this tragic loss and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’

Hundreds of mourners braved the drizzle at Accrington Crematorium Chapel in Lancashire to attend the teenager’s funeral in August.

The farewell was a sea of blue, as this was Jay’s favourite colour. People were seen carrying blue flowers, wearing blue wristbands and ribbons, even blue smoke bombs were let off outside.

Jay’s body was brought to the chapel by horse-drawn carriage in a blue coffin, with ‘JAY’ embossed on the side.