Jay Slater’s mum has ‘unanswered questions’ and calls for solutions from son’s friends

The mum of Jay Slater is still searching for answers over her son’s death and wants to question two of the last people to see him alive.

Grieving Debbie Duncan, 56, says she has “so many questions” over Jay’s death in Tenerife in June. She said she “could not get her head around” why Jay went from the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas to an Airbnb with two men the morning before he disappeared.

Jay stayed at the property, booked under a false name, for a matter of hours with a man who turned out to be convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, also known as ‘Johnny Vegas’.

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There was also an associate named ‘Rocky’. The two men were allowed to leave Tenerife and police said they were “not relevant” to the investigation, while Qassim angrily hit out at speculation on a social media live stream.

Qassim said: “Took him home? No one took no-one bro. He invited himself. Think bro, use your head… How am I feeling after this? It’s mental mate, it’s actually mad. Do you know what I’m saying, it’s actually mental man.”

Jay, 19, left the Airbnb with an 11-hour hike in a mountainous region in the sizzling Mediterranean sun ahead of him.

His disappearance sparked a massive search and a huge amount of coverage and theories from experts, before he was found dead on July 15 with injuries consistent with a fall. But Debbie still wants answers.

“Why did he leave there without charging his phone?” Debbie asked, according to The Sun. The grieving mum said Jay would “always charge his phone” and is worried he left the property fearing for his safety.

Jay had contacted his friend Lucy Mae Law at 8:50am to say he had cut his leg, was lost and dehydrated and that his phone was out of battery.

The heartbroken Lancashire mum said Jay spoke to her a few hours before he left the property and he said “I love you, mother”.

Debbie also said: Why did he not want to hang about to charge his phone? One of these guys had said that he’d given him a charger, but why did he not charge his phone?

“There’s not very many times that I can think where Jay’s not been contactable – and if he’s not, he’ll ring me. I’ve got half of his friends’ numbers in my phone because he’s rung me from them and said, ‘Mum, it’s me.’.”

Qassim, 31, has said Jay “came to the house alive” and left it alive too. Debbie, who said she would like to speak to the two men, asked: “I don’t know why they interviewed and let them go. I don’t know on what day they interviewed them.”

A tearful Debbie continued: “I don’t know what he thought he was doing by going with these two guys. I really don’t know. I can’t get my head round why he just didn’t go back to his own friends, and went with them.

“In our minds, we think he’s not realised where he was going. And it was dark. I just think he’s not even thought about or knew which direction he was going.”

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