Man whose Airbnb Jay Slater stayed at night before he disappeared reveals ‘truth’ about ‘stolen Rolex’

The man whose Airbnb Jay Slater stayed at the night before he went missing and ultimately died in Tenerife has now revealed the 'truth' about the 'stolen Rolex' rumours at the teenager's inquest.

Slater sparked a huge search mission after disappearing on the Spanish island last summer, with a fundraiser that was launched on behalf of his mother Debbie Duncan eventually raising over £70k, with the family asking for more money to help cover his funeral costs.

Following weeks of internet speculation, with his family flying out to the island to help look, his body was eventually discovered on 15 July and an initial autopsy ruled that he had died from severe head injuries that were consistent with a fall from height.

Slater's family first gathered at an inquest back in May but it was delayed after his friends 'couldn't be found' to give evidence, and now the court has heard from close friend Bradley Hargreaves and Ayub Qassim, who was staying at a local Airbnb and was one of the last people to see Jay alive.

Jay Slater and his mother Debbie Duncan (Family handout)

He has addressed rumours about a 'stolen Rolex', with the court shown a Snapchat video from Jay, which was captioned: "Jyst took a 12k rolly off some c*** wi this Mali kid off to get 10 quid for it now haha off my undies."

However, Qassim told the court that the one thing he was certain of, is that Jay 'didn't steal a watch', at which point he was asked why he would have claimed to have done so.

Qassim said: "When you’re younger you might exaggerate things. But 100 percent I didn’t see a watch getting taken, maybe he was just bigging himself up to his pals."

His body was found in July last year (Family Handout)

In an earlier message, Jay said the 'watch' had been a Rolex.

Jay's mother Debbie previously spoke out on the rumours that he had stolen the Rolex, after internet trolls targeted her family when news of her son's disappearance first broke.

She said: “He would never have been involved in anything like that. He had only been in Tenerife three days – and was at a festival with friends which had wristbands, security and an itinerary.

“I’ve no idea where these drug stories have come from and the stuff about him stealing a watch is nonsense."

The inquest continues.