Jay Slater’s family have expressed confusion over the theory that the missing teen lost his keys the night before his disappearance.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer vanished three weeks ago on Tenerife after going back to the Airbnb of two Brits from the NRG music festival, instead of returning to where he was staying with his mates.
The missing lad from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was seen leaving the Papagayo nightclub with the two older men on Sunday, June 16, and investigators have been left puzzled over Jay’s decision to go to the faraway rental property, instead of returning to his Los Cristianos apartment he was staying at with friends Lucy Mae Law and Brad Hargreaves.
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(Image: western mail)
One theory suggests Jay had lost his room key, which led to him looking for alternative accommodation after his friends went home from the festival early.
One of the messages from Ayub Qassim, one of the Brits Jay left the festival with and a convicted drug dealer, reveal Jay had complained to him about losing his keys, reports The Sun.
However, Jay’s family have slammed the claim the teenager wouldn’t return to the apartment over lost keys, because “he’s not stupid”.
(Image: PA)
Speaking to The Sun, Jay’s uncle, Glen Duncan, who has been on the Spanish island searching for his lost nephew, said: “The fact he has come out and said all his mates have left him and he had nowhere to go, he was 10 minutes from his apartment in Los Cristianos.
“He’s not stupid. If he didn’t have a room key he could have gone to reception for a replacement.”
Jay’s dad, Warren Slater, questioned why his son would go back to the accommodation of two much older men in the first place.
(Image: Stan Kujawa)
He said: “My only question is, and this is where you start the investigation from, why did two grown men take a young boy to a valley to a bed and breakfast? I can’t understand that.
“Why? Why? You need to ask them why and then start from there.”
Spanish investigators ruled Ayub and his friend out as people of interest in the case of the missing teen. Jay remains missing after disappearing more than three weeks ago.
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