Channel 4 viewers in tears as little known fact about Jay Slater airs in new documentary

Viewers were left in tears as a new documentary centred on the life of tragic teenager Jay Slater was aired on Sunday night. The 19-year-old's death has been explored in Channel 4's The Disappearance of Jay Slater, which features interviews with Jay's friends, family and those he saw shortly before his death.

After spending the night at the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas, Jay left a club with two strangers - Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas - early the next morning to head to their Airbnb in Masca. One of the final pictures he took was from the doorway at the Airbnb at 7:30am, tagging the location as Rural de Teno park - his last known location. He left the AirBnb around at 8am, attempting to walk the 50km journey home and speaking to his friend, Lucy Law, on the phone before his battery died.

Jay was eventually found on 15 July by a mountain rescue team in the Juan Lopez ravine. An autopsy found that he died as a result of injuries from an accidental fall and that there was no third party involvement, and as the brand new film aired towards the end of the weekend, viewers flooded social media with their reaction.

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One viewer was heartbroken to learn Jay had been born via IV. They wrote: "Poor boy. A tragic accident. His poor family. IVF babies are always so special to their parents. Heartbreaking for them. People really need to stop playing arm chair detectives. As this documentary shows, not everything is a conspiracy," and another said: "Just watched that show about Jay. Very sad for his mum."

A third wrote: "He was young and went down the wrong path but he didn’t deserve to die really sad for the family #jayslater" and a fourth added: "I find the #JaySlater story so sad. Poor kid.."

In the Channel 4 documentary, Qassim gives a testimony during the May 2025 inquest into Jay's death. Speaking about Jay leaving the club with him and Roccas, he said: "He asked if he could come with us. He must have thought we were going to be up. Rocky sat in the passenger seat, Jay sat in the back and I was driving."

He added that Jay "did not steal a watch" at any point and that they went back to their Airbnb. Qassim said that he went to bed and was woken up by a neighbour buzzing the doorbell to ask him to move his car.

He continued: "[Jay]was like, ‘Yeah I’m off.' I said, ‘Chill out G, I’ll drop you off,’ and he said, ‘No no no - I’m going to see the boys, they’re waiting for me.’"

During the inquest, the court was shown a Snapchat picture sent by Jay, understood to have been taken on June 17 at 5.50am. It shows the teen in a car, wearing sunglasses, with the caption: "Yes cuz ended up getting thrown out of there me with 2 maili kids just took an AP [expensive watch] off some c*** on way to sell it for 10 quid."

However, Qassim said that Jay had not stolen a watch. "He could be boasting to his friends, you can tell he's on the buzz. It could be that. When we were all younger, we might over-exaggerate," he said.

Ahead of the inquest, Qassim - who is a convicted drug dealer and served time in prison - told The Central Club that he offered to give Jay a lift home later in the morning.

He said: "My reaction at the time was, ‘Mate - I f**king told him I’d give him a lift in a couple of hours.’ Only if he waited. 'That’s you lots' problem, I’m going to bed now. Your mate’s sweet, he come here in one piece, he left in one piece, I’ve done my part.'"

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