Jay Slater’s disappearance sparked wild theories online and comments from trolls across social media until his body was finally found in a ravine almost a month later

Mark Williams-Thomas
Mark Williams-Thomas claims to have finally sifted through ‘misinformation’ surrounding Jay Slater’s disappearance(Image: Stan Kujawa)

The real reason Jay Slater walked out of a Tenerife Airbnb has allegedly been uncovered by a TV detective who claims there’s been “misinformation”.

Mark Williams-Thomas promised Jay’s family he’d get them answers when he joined the search for the tragic 19-year-old Brit in the summer. The former police officer who’s appeared on high profile TV documentaries has taken to social media to reflect on the missing person case which gripped the nation.


Addressing his followers, Mark claimed “The evidence still strongly suggests that Jay left the Airbnb suddenly.” He added there is more he will reveal when the time is right.

Jay Slater

Jay’s disappearance on June 17 sparked a massive search and a huge amount of coverage and theories from experts, before he was found dead on July 15 with injuries consistent with a fall.

Jay stayed at the property, booked under a false name, for a matter of hours with a man who turned out to be convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, also known as ‘Johnny Vegas’. Qassim, 31, has said Jay “came to the house alive” and left it alive too.

Mark set about answering the many questions Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan had. “Why did he leave there without charging his phone?” Debbie asked, according to The Sun. The grieving mum said Jay would “always charge his phone” and is worried he left the property fearing for his safety.


Jay had contacted his friend Lucy Mae Law at 8:50am to say he had cut his leg, was lost and dehydrated and that his phone was out of battery. The heartbroken Lancashire mum said Jay spoke to her a few hours before he left the property and he said “I love you, mother”.

A view of the Airbnb Casa Abuela Tina in Masca, Tenerife, where missing British teenager
A view of the Airbnb Casa Abuela Tina in Masca, Tenerife, where the missing teenager left on foot (Image: PA)

Debbie also said: “Why did he not want to hang about to charge his phone? One of these guys had said that he’d given him a charger, but why did he not charge his phone?

Mark has now said in videos on social media: “The former officer mentioned the ‘huge amount of misinformation’ surrounding the case, admitting some of what he was told in the ‘early days’ wasn’t ‘accurate, wasn’t correct’. There’s a huge amount of misinformation. When I went out there, I took a lot of videos.

“Some of the information which came to me in the early days wasn’t accurate, wasn’t correct and I needed to validate it.”

A firefighter looks over the village of Masca, Tenerife, where the search for missing British teenager Jay Slater, 19
A firefighter looks over the village of Masca, Tenerife, in search of Jay(Image: PA)

Speaking about Debbie, Mark added: This is a mother who lost her child. This case hit headlines worldwide and took on a life of its own. People became fascinated and as a result of that there were lots of conspiracy theories.

“I was very clear from Day One this looked like a tragic accident. There were considerable issues – I haven’t revealed the details of these issues – exactly why Jay left in the manner he did. Why didn’t he return?

Mark Williams-Thomas addressed the media in Tenerife
Mark Williams-Thomas addressed the media in Tenerife(Image: Stan Kujawa)

“These things I’ve kept to myself at this moment in time. Maybe, when the time is right, I will reveal those. I’ve got to be very careful. What I don’t want to do is upset the family with any more trauma than they have already had and so it would be something I would work very closely with Debbie and the family on to reveal that information.

“Maybe the time will be right soon, but not right now.”

In another video, he commented: “The evidence still strongly suggests that Jay left the Airbnb suddenly and walked for 30 minutes before wandering off road. At this stage, I cannot explain any further what we now know.”