Jay Slater's dad explains whose keys he found in search after son's tragic disappearance

Jay Slater
-Credit: (Image: Family Handout/LBT Global/PA)


The father of Jay Slater has shed some light on the desperate search he and his family undertook following the tragic disappearance of his son.

Apprentice bricklayer Jay was on holiday in Tenerife when he went missing on June 17. The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, had been attending a three-day music festival with friends.

Tragically, the youngster's remains were finally discovered on July 15 near the village of Masca, just metres from his last known location, reports the Mirror.

The preliminary autopsy pointed to his cause of death being on account of a 'fall or plunge from height', with the Civil Guard confirming that Jay's catastrophic injuries included several broken bones. But despite the findings giving his loved ones some comfort, it still remains unknown why Jay ventured out alone.

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In recent days, Jay's dad Warren has launched his own TikTok page to discuss the investigation into his son's disappearance - and address certain things that happened during the search. This includes a bunch of keys he found that were thought to be Jay's "lost apartment key".

Jay Slater's dad, Warren, pictured in Tenerife -Credit:Stan Kujawa
Jay Slater's dad, Warren, pictured in Tenerife -Credit:Stan Kujawa

In his latest video, which has been viewed over 50,000 times, Warren said: "Just to show a video to confirm this is my account. The keys I found do belong to Down the Rapids guy. I found them at the end of the path."

Down the Rapids is the alias of TikTok sleuth Paul Arnott, who had been in Tenerife during the search for Jay.

Warren added: "I haven't been back to Tenerife ever since I came back from looking for my son. The videos that I've been posting are just documentation of what I was up to, where I was searching, things I was looking at while I was out there and that's it."

Warren claimed that the keys he found were thought to be Jay's lost apartment keys, but actually belonged to TikTok sleuth Paul Arnott, known as Down the Rapids, who travelled to Spain to help the family solve the case. It was reported that Jay complained about losing his keys the night before he went missing.

Tik Tok influencer Paul Arnott.
Tik Tok influencer Paul Arnott. -Credit:Stan Kujawa

Jay reportedly messaged fellow partygoer Ayub Qassim - who was the last person to see him alive - about losing his key. Mr Qassim offered him a bed for the night at his Airbnb rental and drove him there in the early hours of the Monday morning. Around 8am, Jay attempted to make the treacherous 11-hour trek on foot back to his apartment.

According to Mr Qassim, Jay went back to the Airbnb, Casa Abuela Tina, as his friends had left him and gone home early. Former police detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who joined Jay's family in Tenerife to investigate several leads, previously said: "[Qassim] said he was on the trip, Jay wanted to carry on partying and he said he had nowhere to stay, so he said he could come back to his.

"In the car, they played music and chatted before stopping to get a drink at a cafe just prior to entering the mountains. [Qassim] was driving, his friend was in the passenger seat, and Jay was in the back."