The mystery surrounding the disappearance and tragic death of 19-year-old Jay Slater just got a new layer of intrigue, as an inquest into his death has revealed claims that he may have stolen a luxury watch right before he went missing.
Jay had been partying at the popular Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas on June 16, 2024, while on a trip to Tenerife for a music festival with friends Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves. After the club, he left with two men, Ayub Qassim and someone known only as “Rocky,” and headed to a remote Airbnb in the mountain village of Masca.
The next morning, just before 9 a.m., Jay left the Airbnb. He didn’t catch the local bus and instead set out on foot, trying to make the long 11-hour trek back to his own place. He called Lucy, who he was staying, to say he was thirsty, didn’t know where he was, and his phone was about to die. That call was the last anyone heard from him. His phone went dead, and later that day, he was reported missing.
A massive search kicked off immediately, with local police, mountain teams, and even Jay’s parents and brother joining the effort.
As theories about what happened to Jay exploded online, one particularly wild claim stood out — that he had taken a £12,000 Rolex before he vanished. That theory got more weight when missing persons investigator Mark Williams-Thomas shared a video on July 2, 2024, saying, “We’ve 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.” He also said Jay had supposedly posted a Snapchat saying he’d taken a £12,000 Rolex from someone.
During the inquest, a witness named Josh Forshaw testified that Jay sent him a message bragging about the theft. The two had met at the airport in Manchester before the trip and reconnected at the festival. Jay’s message said, “Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP off somebody and was on the way to sell it.” An AP refers to Audemars Piguet, another high-end watch brand.
Josh told the inquest that Jay “seemed dead happy” at the time but was clearly partying hard. According to Josh, Jay had downed “10 to 15 vodka shots” and even asked him to split an MDMA pill so he and a friend could each take half.
Jay allegedly told Josh he planned to sell the stolen watch strap for “10 quid,” which Josh clarified is slang for £10,000, not literally ten pounds. He also said Jay sent him a photo showing knives tucked into his trousers, but admitted he never shared that image with Spanish police.
Sadly, Jay’s story came to a tragic end nearly a month later. On July 15, police found his lifeless body in the rugged terrain of Tenerife’s Parque Rural de Teno. A preliminary autopsy suggested he likely died after falling, as he’d sustained multiple broken bones.
The full details surrounding his death are still under investigation as the inquest continues.
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