ONE of the final people to see Jay Slater alive has spoken out for the first time since the teen’s body was found in Tenerife.
Convicted drug dealer, Ayub Qassim, 31, took the 19-year-old Brit back to an Airbnb in Masca the night before he went missing on June 17.
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Qassim has always denied any involvement in Jay’s death after the Lancashire teen was discovered in a ravine a few miles from the Airbnb.
He says Jay spent the night in the rented home before leaving in the early hours of the morning.
Qassim claims he offered Jay a lift back to his hotel complex but the teen declined and walked away in a rush before disappearing.
Four months on from Jay’s funeral, Qassim has given a two-hour interview speaking about the last time he saw Jay.
He admitted to having “survivors guilt” when he heard Jay had gone missing but said at the time it felt like a “told you so” moment as Jay had refused to accept a lift back.
Speaking on The Central Club podcast, he continued: “The moment he said ‘I’m going’ and I shut my door, that’s me out of this.”
He added: “Sorry I couldn’t be your foreign suspect, I apologise, it’s not me for this whole situation.”
Qassim also revealed that he knew Jay had some concerns over staying at the Airbnb.
He said he has since been shown messages from a friend who spoke to Jay during the night at the rented home.
In one text Jay asks “are these lads sweet?”.
Qassim said on the podcast: “My pal did says he messaged to say ‘Is your pal alright upstairs’ and my guy said ‘Come off it, he is sweet’.
“That was about 10-20 minutes before he left. I do believe, there was a lot of texting back and forth.”
“There was obviously something going through in his head,” he added.
Qassim was jailed for nine years back in 2015 for his role as the ringleader of a London-based gang dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Cardiff.
