Man who let Jay Slater stay at Airbnb breaks silence saying 'he left alive'

A man who let Jay Slater stay at his AIrbnb the night before the teenager vanished without a trace has broken his silence about his role in the saga. Ayub Qassim insisted the 19-year-old left his property alive, before he disappeared in the mountainous terrain in the northwest of the Spanish island of Tenerife.

The 31-year-old, who is believed to have invited Jay back to the holiday apartment after going to a rave in the south of the island, said: "He came to my Airbnb alive and he left my Airbnb alive."

Qassim had booked the Airbnb under the name of Ayub Abdul and, along with another man, has already spoken to Spanish police as part of their missing person probe.

The pair are understood to have stayed in Tenerife for another day after Jay disappeared to talk with police who have previously said they were "irrelevant" to the investigation.

The Mirror reports Mr Qassim told MailOnline: "I let the geezer stay at mine because he had nowhere else to go, his friends had all left him. I know Jay, through friends.

"I'm not going to bring someone back to mine if I don't know them. I'm doing the geezer a favour and now my face is all over the news. It's a bit mental. I haven't even done anything."

Mr Qassim, who is back at his home in Barking, east London, denied that he had an argument with Jay, who not been heard from for more than two weeks.

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A major search in the mountainous terrain where he vanished was called off last Sunday by police. The apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared after leaving an Airbnb in the village of Masca.

He spoke to a friend Lucy Law on his mobile on the day of his disappearance to say he was attempting to walk back to the south, a journey that would have taken about 11 hours, before his phone battery died.

Meanwhile, a former British police detective, Mark Williams-Thomas, raised the question of why Jay didn't return to the Airbnb to charge his phone or get some water.

He also said that the teen had "posted a Snapchat saying that he'd taken a £12,000 Rolex from a person", which is thought to have related to an incident at the rave.

He continued: "We've received information that would suggest that Jay left the rental property feeling scared and he would not return to the rental, even though that would have been the most sensible course of action."

In the video, he pointed out: "We've been unable to validate this in terms of a reported theft" but added: "However, friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject of later conversation between the friends."