Jay Slater search update as new mystery surrounds key he lost before 'friends ditched him'
According to new reports, Jay may have lost his accommodation key, prompting him to find a new place to stay for the night.
Jay Slater is said to have lost the keys to his accommodation the night he disappeared while on holiday in Tenerife, potentially explaining why he went along with two men to their secluded Airbnb.
The British teen, who has now been missing for 23 days, left Papagayo nightclub on the night of Sunday 16 June without his friends Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves, but accompanied by two people.
According to a new theory, put forward by the Sun, Jay may have lost his key and was looking for somewhere to stay after his friends had left earlier.
One of the men he left with, convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, showed the news outlet text messages reportedly between him and Jay, with the apprentice bricklayer complaining about losing his key.
Jay’s uncle, Glen Duncan, said: "The fact he has come out and said all his mates have left him and he had nowhere to go, he was 10 minutes from his apartment in Los Cristianos.
"He's not stupid. If he didn't have a room key he could have gone to reception for a replacement."
Jay Slater: Mark Williams-Thomas shares update on search
On the night Jay went missing, Ayub claims he drove him and another friend back to their Airbnb to sleep off the rest of the night. In the morning, he offered to drive him back to his resort after having a nap, but Jay reportedly expressed that he wanted to leave immediately by bus.
Mark Williams-Thomas, a former detective on the ground in Tenerife, said that Ayub woke up to a friend calling to tell him Jay was “in a ditch” and had been “cut by a cactus”.
Jay, who seemingly decided to undertake the 11-hour hike back to his accommodation instead of waiting for a bus, had low battery on his phone and no water as he headed towards the mountainous Rural de Teno park.
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Upon Jay being reported missing, Spanish police launched a massive search operation but called it off on Sunday 30 June.
Ayub has insisted that "Jay came to the house alive, and he left the house alive", adding that he had "nothing to hide".
Both Ayub and the other man he drove back with Jay have spoken to Spanish police and deemed "irrelevant" to the investigation, which Jay's uncle was reportedly "baffled" by.
