JAY Slater left the Airbnb he went to with two men feeling “scared” after admitting to stealing a £12,000 Rolex, an investigator claims.
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas said the 19-year-old did not want to return to the remote holiday let despite having little phone battery.
Jay Slater vanished on June 17PA
Doug SeeburgTwo plain-clothed officers searched the Airbnb on Tuesday[/caption]
Ian WhittakerMark Williams-Thomas has claimed Jay left the Airbnb feeling ‘scared’[/caption]
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, who had been at a rave all night in Playa de las Americas, travelled north to the Airbnb in Masca village in the early hours of June 17.
During the hour-long drive, Mark claims Jay posted a Snapchat claiming to have taken a Rolex worth £12,000 from an unknown person.
Mark said: “Friends of Jay said he would not make this up and the watch was subject of later conversation between the friends.”
Former police officer Mark – who worked on the Madeleine McCann case – said while at the Airbnb, Jay had contact with pals via social media.
It included a Snapchat picture he sent to pals from the cottage holding a cigarette at 7.30am.
According to Mark, the host of the Airbnb told Jay at around 8am there would be a bus two hours later.
Jay then tried to make his way back to his holiday accommodation, faced with an 11-hour walk.
Mark – who worked on the Madeleine McCann case – said Jay talked to at least three friends via message and the phone while trekking back, telling them he was lost.
At around 8.50am he made a final frantic call to friend Lucy, telling her he was in the “middle of nowhere” with no water and had just one per cent battery on his phone.
Mark said in a video update today: “He was told to go back by two people to the rental.
“He said he could not do that and that he’d already been walking for 30 minutes and that he was now off road and was walking on a track where there were loose stones.”
Jay did, however, sent his location at both 8.49am and 8.50am to friends, showing him on a hiking trail in the desolate Rural de Teno park.
The teen’s phone battery then died, and he has not been seen or heard from since.
Mark has claimed Jay fled the holiday let and was “scared”.
He said: “We have 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, and also where he could have charged his phone, got some water and made contact with friends.
“We continue to investigate this aspect.”
The two men Jay was with in the last hours before he disappeared spoke to police on the island before jetting back to the UK.
They have been deemed “not relevant” to the investigation by Spanish police.
Today, a picture emerged of the man who rented the Airbnb for £120 for three nights.
Mark, who helped expose Jimmy Savile, flew to Tenerife a week after Jay vanished as he wanted to help his devastated family get answers.
While not part of the official probe, Mark has been conducting his own probe and today said he and his team believe there was no third party involvement in Jay’s disappearance.
He said: “We have, however, ruled out hostage or kidnapping situation because no credible ransom demand has been made.
“We’ve no evidence at this stage to say there was a third party criminal involvement in Jay’s disappearance.”
Mark said he still had a number of lines of inquiries to look into, so was still “keeping an open mind”, however.