by One of Jay Slater’s friends has hit back at the conspiracy theories circulating on social media. Brad Hargreaves was one of Jay Slater’s friends who traveled with him to Tenerife to attend the NRG music festival – and has been targeted by trolls on the internet.
Brad told his followers on Instagram that the people who think he had some part in Jay’s departure are ‘beyond me’. He told those who were creating their own theories about what happened to Jay that they need to know the facts before talking s*** on the internet’.
Brad added that the two have been mates for years, they came on our first holiday together and unfortunately this happened. We’re not drug mules or whatever…’
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Brad appeared to dismiss a widely circulated theory on social media that the role of Tenerife drugs could be involved in Jay’s disappearance – including friends accusing the 19-year-old of being a ‘drug mule’.
Hitting back, he wrote a message on Instagram in which he took aim at the conspiracy theories circulating, the Independent reported. “I think I’m connected to it, it’s over me,” he wrote.
“We have been together for many years, we came on our first holiday together and unfortunately this happened. We’re not drug mules or whatever…. peple [sic] You need to know the facts before talking s*** on the internet…”
Jay, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, left the Spanish island on June 17. He was last seen leaving the Airbnb at around 8am that morning.
The teenager, who was on holiday with friends Lucy Law, 18, and Brad Hargreaves, 19, had previously been partying at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas, before leaving the event to return to the property on rent. His last known location was Páirc Rural de Teno in the north of the Canary Islands – which was around 11 hours’ walk back to his accommodation.
At around 8.30am on the morning he went missing, Jay called Lucy to say he was in the middle of nowhere, trying to get home with no water and 1 percent on his phone battery. That was the last anyone heard from him.
Earlier this week, Mark Williams-Thomas, a former British police detective who is helping Jay Slater’s family in Tenerife, claimed the teenager was ‘scared’ when he left the Airbnb and allegedly had a ‘Rolex taken by him before he went missing.
The investigator said: “We have received information to suggest that Jay left the rental property in a panic and would not return to the rental, although that would be the most sensible course of action.” The former detective claimed Jay had posted a Snapchat saying he had taken a £12,000 Rolex from someone.
“We have not been able to validate this in terms of reported theft”, he said in the video. “However, Jay’s friends said he would not do this and the watch was subject to a later conversation between the friends.”
The British man who was ‘visiting the Airbnb where Jay Slater went missing’ before he disappeared has recently broken his silence – claiming he ‘left it alive’.
Ayub Qassim claimed he invited the 19-year-old back to the rented property in northern Tenerife, near the village of Masca, after a rave in the south of the island. Qassim, who booked the £40-a-night flat under the name Ayub Abdul, spoke amid widespread speculation about why Jay went back there and why he left his phone on 1 per cent battery and without water .
Qassim said he was ‘doing Jay a favour’ by letting him stay in the apartment – named Casa Abuela Tina. Speaking to the Mail Online, the 31-year-old said: “He came to my Airbnb alive and left my Airbnb alive.”
According to reports, Qassim was jailed nine years ago for being the mastermind behind a sophisticated operation to flood Wales with Class A drugs. Spanish police have already spoken to him and the friend unnamed he was traveling with – although officers on the ground said both were ‘irrelevant’ to the investigation.
Qassim is now back at his family’s flat in east London. Speaking yesterday, he said: “The only comment I have to make is that Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive.
“I let the geezer stay with me because he had nowhere else to go, he had left all his friends. I know Jay, my friends, I’m not going to bring someone back to me if I don’t know them.
“I’ve been doing the geezer a favor and now my face is all over the news. It’s a bit mind-blowing. I haven’t even done anything.”
He added that there was no argument with Jay amid reports that the teenager told friends ‘he had taken a £12,000 Rolex watch’ and ‘left the rental property in fear’. Qassim said: “If I had fallen out with him would he even come to me?
“There were no problems. You have seen the last images of him with his red flag around him.
“I don’t know if he had beef elsewhere because I don’t know him well, I only know him through friends.”
After almost two weeks of hunting for the teenager in a large mountainous terrain, the police called off the ground search for him. On June 30, they said officers would continue to act on any tips or other information that comes in but that the active work in progress since the apprentice bricklayer was reported missing would be suspended.
