A convicted drug dealer who was among the last to see Jay Slater before he disappeared and died in Tenerife has told an inquest the teenager did not steal an expensive watch hours before he vanished.
Ayub Qassim, one of two British men who rented an AirBnb visited by Jay just hours before he disappeared, is giving evidence remotely at Preston Coroner’s Court following successful efforts to trace him.
The inquest was dramatically halted in May to allow the courts more time to locate Mr Qassim and Steven Roccas, previously known as ‘Rocky’.
Speaking about Jay’s final hours, Mr Qassim said the teenager did not steal a watch and may have been ‘boasting’ to his friends in Snapchat messages when he said he wanted to fetch £10,000.
One of Jay’s friends, Bradley Geoghegan, also known as Hargreaves, was the first witness called to give evidence today and told how their partying went ‘a bit too far’ before the teen’s disappearance.
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was found in a steep and inaccessible area by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on July 15, 2024. His body was discovered 29 days after he went missing during a holiday with friends.
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