The two men who Jay Slater stayed with before he died have spoken on camera for the first time.
Convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, nicknamed ‘Johnny Vegas’ and his friend ‘Rocky’ – who showed himself for the first time on camera – said the teenager died in a tragic accident.
The pair were among the last people to see 19–year-old Jay before he went missing on June 17.
Although police on Tenerife ruled the duo out of their investigation early on, Qassim told his Instagram followers: ‘If I’m guilty then arrest me then, what are you on about? When you’re telling the truth you don’t slip up.’
Jay travelled to the remote village of Masca with them after spending the night partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas.
He had left his friends and went off with Qassim and Rocky who drove him back to their Airbnb accommodation on the outskirts of the village, around 20 miles away.
Ayub Qassim (pictured) was one of the last people to see Jay Slater alive has claimed the 19-year-old died in a tragic accident
Convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim and his friend ‘Rocky’ (pictured) said that the teenager died in a tragic accident
Jay Slater was found in a ravine in the west of Tenerife almost a month after he went missing following a night out
While in the car, he sent a Snapchat message to his friends boasting that he had just stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch from a reveller and was going to sell it for £10,000.
He later shared a photo on his Snapchat account, which showed him standing at the doorway of a house shortly after 7am.
Qassim and Rocky were quizzed by local police son after Jay went missing, but they were deemed ‘irrelevant’ and allowed to return to the UK.
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Last night, the two of them took to social media to answer questions about the incident.
People were able to pose questions to them about details in the case such as the missing Rolex, Jay being scared and claims the teenager was carrying two knives.
Asked about taking Jay back to the Airbnb, 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.’
When asked ‘Did you punch him’ he replied: ‘No, of course not. Mate, what do you reckon happened to him? He had a tragic accident, you know what it’s like. Taking it out that way. The kid didn’t have his funeral, have a bit of respect.’
When asked about the stolen watch, he answered: ‘No one took my watch, bro. Why the f*** would I invite someone who took my watch back to mine so they can sleep on the sofa, what are you on about? Bro, don’t you help people, do you know what I’m saying.’
Jay pictured with his mother Debbie Duncan
Three members of the Signi Zoekhonden team and their Belgian Malinois dog called Flex pinpointed the tragic spot last Thursday during a five hour trek in and out of the remote Barranco Juan Lopez valley and the rocky ravine at the end of it
The spot where British holidaymaker Jay Slater was found when he plunged to his death in Tenerife
Jay had been on holiday with pals Lucy Mae Law, 18 and Brad Hargreaves, and Qassim said he knew the group from Lancashire before arriving in Spain.
He said: ”Yeah, of course, I did, how else would I be around like? We were doing our own things, we weren’t out together, cos I don’t listen to that music it’s not my thing.’
Asked about how Jay was feeling when he left the apartment, Qassim responded: ‘I don’t know why he was scared and he ain’t here to answer that question. I don’t want to say, people could be going through something in their own heads, who knows, do you know what i’m saying?
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‘Yeah I offered him a lift back, but obviously when I wake up, cos you’ve got to remember we came back at 6.30, 6.40 in the morning like. And I only slept for an hour before I had to move my car
‘Bro I’m not driving another half an hour and all of this one hour away, bro, I was in a Cupra estate, zooming the road like, it’s not an hour away, it’s half an hour.’
Speaking about his drug dealing, Qassim said ‘it was in the past’, adding: ‘And everyone’s calling me a dealer, I was 19, I’m 30 now. Everyone asking why was he scared, bro I don’t know why he was scared bro, stop asking me, you’re asking the wrong guy.
‘I’ve got videos on my phone where me and him are videoing Rocky in the car where Rocky’s sleeping on the front. We’re just laughing at him, you know what I’m saying.
”He was calm, it was a vibe like, we were just bossing jokes, all of this scared and all of that, is like, what you on about scared?’
He was then asked about the watch for a second time, saying: ‘I don’t know whose watch went missing. You know furthermore, what watch is it? Question for you guys cos you’re all talking about this watch. What colour is it, what type is it, you tell me.’
Qassim also claimed the ‘detective guy’ told him that Jay had two knives on him, claiming: ‘That’s even more mental like the guy had two knives on him. Like we was in danger, let alone, but no-one’s saying anything about that, I’m not even going to complain about that.
‘I’ve been in danger many times before, I’ve been shot at before. Why was I in danger? Apparently, he had a knife on him. That is from the horse’s mouth.’
Jay Slater was found in a ravine in the west of Tenerife almost a month after he went missing following a night out
Tearful mourners gathered in Jay’s hometown of Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, where they released blue balloons in his memory
Volunteers searching for Jay in Masca after the teenager went missing
The Guardia Civil released video footage of the search efforts undertaken to find Jay. A helicopter was called in to help with the recovery of his body
Around an hour after sharing the photo on his Snapchat account, Jay called his friend Lucy Law, telling her that he was ‘lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water’ and had missed a bus back south to his accommodation in Los Cristianos.
He claimed he had set off on foot to try and get back to his accommodation, despite it being around 11 hours away.
MailOnline later found a witness who revealed that he had walked north out of the village, instead of taking the winding road south towards Los Cristianos.
It is believed that he may have decided that it was quicker for him to find the coast and walk back along it, rather than trek along the winding road back through the mountains.
They have claimed that he may have left the road and headed down a track into the Barranco Juan Lopez valley after catching a glimpse of the sea in the distance.
But he would have found the path coming to an abrupt end after half a mile, leading to him scrambling down a slope before reaching the rocky outcrops of the ravine at the end of the valley nearest the coastline.
Spanish authorities have identified the body which was found as being Jay, using fingerprint evidence, and the fact that he had his possessions with him. They say he had injuries consistent with a fall from a height.