A tragic mystery that captivated the world
The story of Jay Slater, the 19-year-old British man who disappeared in Tenerife after attending a music festival, went around the world. For weeks, social media was filled with unsubstantiated theories, the authorities maintained an incomplete silence and the family clamoured for answers. Now, an unexpected twist comes from investigator Mark Williams-Thomas, who reveals unpublished details in a podcast that is already generating a new media impact.
What appeared to be a case closed as a tragic accident is reopened with hitherto unknown elements: drugs, fear and an escape that ended in tragedy.
The festival night that changed everything
Jay arrived on the Canary Island with friends to attend the NRG festival. After a night of partying, he ended up in an Airbnb with Ayub Qassim, a 31-year-old man with a record for drug trafficking, and another companion. It was there, according to new testimony gathered by Williams-Thomas, that the young man made a decision that would mark his fate: he stole a bag of ketamine from the accommodation.
Qassim, who had not previously told police, explained in the podcast that Jay left at dawn with the drug. It was then that the young man, under the effect of a mixture of ketamine, cocaine and ecstasy, armed himself with two kitchen knives, hid them in his trousers and told his friend Lucy Law that he could not return. He was, in his own words, “on a mission”.
Signs of paranoia and fear
Lucy Law, who is also speaking publicly for the first time since the disappearance, says that Jay was very upset, showing signs of paranoia and fear. He confessed to her that he was carrying the knives “in case something happened”. He could not go back to the place where he had robbed. Stress, substance abuse and a sense of threat caused him to flee aimlessly.
The final desperate calls
Before disappearing, he sent a photo from the door of the Airbnb via Snapchat, marking his location, and then made two calls: one to Lucy, telling her he was lost and his mobile was out of battery, and another to his friend Bradley, describing that he was walking over rocky terrain.
That route, from Masca to Playa de las Americas, is a journey of more than ten hours on foot, over dry terrain, without water and under the strong Canarian sun. An impossible walk in his physical and mental condition for any traveller, let alone someone in Jay’s deteriorated state.
The tragic discovery
His body was found weeks later at the foot of a ravine. The autopsy revealed the presence of several drugs in his system, which reinforces the detective’s theory: Jay was not murdered, but suffered a fatal accident while fleeing disoriented and aimless, conditioned by fear and the effect of narcotics.
Mark Williams-Thomas insists that there is no evidence that third parties were involved in his death, but he does allege serious failings in the investigation. He points out that the police failed to locate either Qassim or Lucy Law, key witnesses to reconstruct the events, and that their absence at the inquest in Preston prevented vital details that are now coming to light.
The stolen watch revelation
Among the elements that carry most weight is the message Jay sent to another friend, Joshua Forshaw, on the day of his disappearance. In it he confessed to stealing a watch worth £10,000. This, coupled with the theft of the ketamine and his mental state, helps to understand why he decided to escape alone through a remote area, without means or direction.
The detective, with decades of experience in disappearance cases, believes that these new testimonies provide the missing context for understanding Jay’s erratic behaviour in his final hours.
A mother’s painful dilemma
Debbie, the young man’s mother, has been pained by these revelations. She initially asked the detective not to make them public for fear that they would affect her son’s image. However, Williams-Thomas maintains that withholding relevant information helps no one, and that every truth, no matter how uncomfortable, deserves to be investigated.
For this reason, he has decided to make public the audios and testimonies he has collected during months of work, with the intention that both the British justice system and the Spanish authorities re-evaluate the case with all the information available.
The case reopened
The judicial investigation has been postponed until Qassim and Lucy appear officially. In the meantime, the new material has already been handed over to both the Spanish police and the Preston court. The question now is not only what happened to Jay Slater, but why it has taken so long for the truth to come out.
The case, which was initially closed as an accident, may be reopened with new nuances. Perhaps the ending will not change, but the way it is understood will. Instead of a young man who lost his way in the mountains, the image now emerges of someone who acted out of fear, pressure and lack of control, immersed in an environment from which he did not know how to escape.
