Conspiracy theory about Jay Slater’s pal Lucy Mae Law spread by online sleuths debunked by ex-Maddie investigator

A WILD conspiracy theory spread by online sleuths claims Jay Slater's friend Lucy was out drinking with one of the men who last saw the teen before he vanished.

Vile trolls are claiming a picture of two people at a bar shows Lucy Mae Law and Ayub Qassim, a convicted drug dealer, who left a rave with Jay the night before he disappeared.

Lucy had flown out to the island with Jay for a festival, and was partying with him on the night of Sunday 16 before he left with Ayub.

The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer headed back to Ayub's Airbnb in north west Tenerife with another mystery man known only as Jonny Vegas.

Ayub Qassim, 31, has insisted he has "nothing to hide" and slammed Facebook detectives this week for screenshotting his Instagram.

Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas has rubbished speculation that a picture swirling on social media is of the pair together.

The low-res snap shows two people leaning over different sides of a table in a bar, deep in conversation.

One woman shared the image next to a picture of Lucy and said they appeared to be wearing the same skirt, and shared the same mole.

She wrote: "Of course it's her".

Someone else also claimed that the man in the photograph was Ayub.

Mark - who worked on the Madeleine McCann case - hit back on X: "That 'mole' in the photo is actually two overlapping shadows from the multiple lights.

"And Lucy has a second mole near her armpit which this girl doesn't have.

He added: "And Lucy was not in Tenerife when photo taken. So no it is not her and anyone saying it is wrong."

Just days ago Mark also hit back at a sickening video being shared online that claimed to show Jay being beaten to death.

The Sun has seen the horrific video, which was too shocking to publish, and quickly established that it had nothing to do with the missing Lancashire teen.

It was first shared on Russian social media sites nine years ago, when Jay was just 10 years old.

Former detective Mark - who worked on the Madeleine McCann case - rubbished the clip on X, writing: "The video was first posted on a social media site 9 years ago & therefore cannot be Jay Slater."

He said "lots of people" had been contacting him about the "distressing" video.

There are concerns that the video may have been seen by Jay’s shattered loved ones who are already fighting a torrent of online troll abuse.

Mark, who is in Tenerife looking for Jay, said the teenager's family have been faced with a deluge of cruel threats including fake ransom demands.

An ever-increasing amount of unhinged conspiracy theories, baseless claims and twisted jibes have been shared widely online since Jay disappeared on Jay 17.

He called Lucy that morning to let her know he was lost in the Rural de Teno park, where a massive search was quickly launched.

Cops, volunteers, mountain rescue, firefighters, sniffer dogs and drones poured through the rural parkland in an effort to find him.

After almost two weeks, that search was called off.

On Thursday, Debbie spoke out with an emotional plea, slamming those online making wild claims.

Spanish cops confirmed to Jay's family yesterday that they are allowed to bring in their own teams to find him.

And today Jay's dad and brother were spotted in the mountains beginning a new hunt for the missing teen.

It comes after a GoFundMe set up by Lucy for the family reached £50,000 on Friday evening.

Jay's loved ones have been urged to use some of the GoFundMe money to pay for a fresh attempt to find him after they said they felt "left in the dark" by cops.