THE second man Jay Slater went to an Airbnb with hours before falling to his death has broken his silence.
Named only as “Rocky”, he and convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim spoke on a live stream to slam conspiracy theories and told sleuths: “Have some respect”.
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Jay’s body was last week found by police in a treacherous ravine in Tenerife 29 days after he vanished.
Rocky and Qassim were among the last people to see Jay, 19, alive before he disappeared on June 17.
The pair were quickly ruled out by police who deemed them “not relevant” to the case.
But social media has been rife with speculation about the two men who took Jay back to their Airbnb in Masca – almost an hour away from where he was partying in Playa de las Americas.
Qassim said: “If I’m guilty then arrest me then, what are you on about?
“When you’re telling the truth you don’t slip up.”
Qassim and Rocky insisted Jay suffered a “tragic accident”.
Jay had been partying at the Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas before travelling in a hire car to remote Masca with Rocky and Qassim.
He shared a final Snapchat post at 7.30am on the steps of the Airbnb, showing a cigarette in his hand.
Jay then left the Airbnb and at around 8.30am made a final phone call to friend Lucy Law, saying he was lost, needed water and only had one per cent phone battery.
Qassim, who is thought to go by the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’, rented the £40-a-night holiday let called Casa Abuela Tina under a different surname.
The 31-year-old was put behind bars for nine years in 2015 as the ringleader of a London-based gang dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Cardiff.
Referring to a comment about taking Jay back to the holiday cottage, Qassim said: “Took him home? No one took no-one bro. He invited himself. Think bro, use your head.
It comes as…
“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.”
Qassim also dismissed claims Jay had stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch.
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas also previously suggested Jay felt “scared” when he left the Airbnb the morning of his death.
When asked about how Jay was feeling, Qassim said: “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?”.
Rocky also said in the video: “I got drunk, I was sleeping in the car.
“Why did he not charge his phone? I don’t know, I was asleep so I can’t tell you mate.”
Jay’s body was tragically found last Monday almost a month after he vanished.
Dramatic images showed the moment a helicopter crewman was winched into the chasm with his arms aloft in the delicate recovery operation on July 15.
His body revealed that he had suffered multiple injuries consistent with an accidental fall from a considerable height.
Distraught mum Debbie Duncan, 55, dad Warren Slater, 58, and brother Zak, 24, laid floral tributes in the mountainous region.
They are now preparing to fly back to the UK with Jay’d body and hold a funeral for him to pay a final goodbye.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay travelled to a remote Airbnb in Masca with two men in the early hours of June 17.
He had been partying all night in Playa de las Americas with friends he was on holiday with – Lucy, 18, and Brad Hargreaves.
In the morning, he attempted the 11 hour walk back to his own accommodation miles away.
Jay made a tragic final phone call to friend Lucy to say he was in the middle of nowhere and had little phone battery
It was the last time Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, was heard from, and a mammoth search mission was launched.
Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak spent weeks searching the unforgiving terrain for a breakthrough after the teenager vanished on June 17.
They retraced his steps in the blistering heat for days on their own after Spanish cops suspended their search.
But his body was finally discovered by a helicopter crew on Monday at the bottom of a ravine close to where his mobile phone last pinged.
THE MYSTERIOUS CASE OF JAY SLATER
By Ellie Doughty, Foreign News Reporter
Monday July 8 marks three weeks since Jay Slater, a 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer, who flew out to the popular holiday island for a rave festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Page, has made headlines around the country.
On Sunday June 16 the three of them headed off to one of the events at Papagayo nightclub.
In the early hours of Monday 17 – Lucy and Brad were ready to head back to their hotel, but Jay wanted to keep partying.
It was then that he left the south of the island and headed to an Airbnb in the northwest with two British men.
The Sun revealed the identity of one of them – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, who spent nine years behind bars in the UK.
For days it was thought that the second mystery man went by the name ‘Johnny Vegas’.
On Sunday former detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who is out in Tenerife investigating, said Qassim told him he is in fact the man behind the nickname ‘Johnny Vegas’.
We don’t yet know the identity of the second man – who remains a key part of the puzzle in Jay’s mysterious disappearance.
Qassim claims he drove Jay and the friend back to their accommodation and said they all went to sleep.
In the morning he offered to drive the teen back to the Los Cristianos resort after a nap, but Jay, hungry and tired, said he wanted to leave immediately.
Lucy, the last person to speak to Jay, claims she had a panicked call from him soon after he left the holiday let, telling her he was lost and thirsty, his phone was about to die and that he’d been cut by a cactus.
Jay had been seen by the owner of the Airbnb that morning wandering around near the Rural de Teno park – a mountainous region close-by.
He is believed to have been attempting the 11-hour trek back to his hotel, despite the alleged offer of a lift and more buses scheduled for the day.
It was there that his phone last pinged – and he hasn’t been seen or heard from since.
Mark Williams-Thomas has claimed he left the Airbnb quickly, and was “scared”.
Bizarrely, Qassim says he was woken up that morning by a phone call from an unnamed friend of Jay, saying he was “in a ditch” somewhere and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay’s friend Lucy claimed to have “tracked down” the two men in the Airbnb after he vanished – quizzing them on the morning of Jay’s disappearance.
Some reports have suggested Lucy knew the two men, although it is not clear how.
She has dubbed his disappearance “weird and suspicious”.
Both men were questioned by Spanish cops on June 17 but quickly deemed “irrelevant” to the investigation and cleared to fly back to the UK.
Police spent almost two weeks searching for Jay in the Tenerife mountains, scouring a 2,000ft ravine, before calling it off on Sunday June 30.
Jay’s family have repeatedly slammed the Spanish investigation into his bizarre disappearance.
His uncle, Glen Duncan, is convinced of “third party involvement”.
And the teen’s devastated dad, Warren Slater, says “everything stinks”
He told The Sun: “My starting position, I’ve said this from day one, ask the two men who’ve taken him – and then start from there.”
A number of unanswered questions remain, over why Jay would have travelled so far with two older men he didn’t know, why said men would have taken him in, and why he braved the Tenerife mountains with no phone battery, water or heat protection for a day-long walk.
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