Jay Slater's family hope to get the answers they want as inquest set to resume
The inquest into the death of Jay Slater will resume next week - after his tearful mum pleaded with key witnesses to attend.
Jay, 19, went missing in June last year after attending a music festival in Playa de las Americas in Tenerife. His disappearance sparked intense social media speculation, with wild conspiracy theories spread by online sleuths and trolling of his friends and family.
The search came to a tragic end a year ago this week, July 15, four weeks after he vanished, when police discovered his body in a remote ravine.
When the inquest started, in May, Preston Coroner's Court heard some of Jay's friends and other witnesses 'could not be located' despite months-long police efforts to find them.
His mother Debbie Duncan wept as she asked senior coroner Dr James Adeley to 'bring these people in front of us'.
Two of the friends he had travelled to the island with, Lucy Law and Bradley Geoghan (also known as Bradley Hargreaves), were on holiday, the court heard.
The Metropolitan Police had also tried to locate Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, who were renting an AirBnB which Jay travelled to, but neither man could be found.
Miss Duncan said in court: 'How can we ever get any understanding? There's things we want to question. We want these people to be sat in front of us, because our son went on holiday and didn't come back, so there's questions we need to ask.'
Dr Adeley agreed to pause the hearing saying: 'In view of your distress we will make attempts to find them using whatever means we can.'
Now the hearing is due to resume next Thursday (July 24) to hear a further two days of evidence - with Jay's family hoping they will finally get the answers they want.
The inquest has already heard Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, died after he fell into a ravine in Tenerife.
The apprentice bricklayer's body was found by Spanish police in a remote national park on July 15, with severe head injuries consistent with a fall from height.
According to toxicology reports and his own messages, Jay had been under the influence of drugs and alcohol, with traces of MDMA, cocaine and ketamine in his system when he died - although it was not clear how long before his death he had taken them.
The inquest also heard he sent messages to friends on social media referring to being with 'two kids' who had stolen a 'luxury' watch from someone and had sent a picture of himself with two knives.
Jay was driven to the AirBnB in the remote village of Masca, around 22 miles (36km) away from where he was staying. He was last heard from around 8.30am on the morning of June 17, when he called Lucy Law and told her he was lost and had 1% battery on his phone.
One witness who did attend, Joshua Forshaw, said he had got chatting to Jay and his friends at the airport. He told the court the last time he saw him was at the Papayago nightclub, which was hosting the NRG music festival, on the night of June 16, 2024.
He said: 'It wasn't long after the event had started. He seemed to be in a happy mood, joyful to be there.'
The coroner pointed out that in his original statement Mr Forshaw had described Mr Slater as appearing to be 'off his head' on drugs. Mr Forshaw said he believed Jay had drunk a lot of alcohol, but was unsure about what drugs he had taken.
He said the last time he saw him Jay told him 'some kids had just took an AP off somebody' and that he was 'on his way to sell it for 10 quid'. He said AP referred to a luxury watch brand and quid was a 'code for a grand [£1,000]'.
Hours later, when he was in bed, Mr Forshaw received a video from Jay showing him in an area of mountains, which he said was between 05:50 and 07:20 on June 17.
He also told the inquest Jay sent him a picture of himself with 'two knives in his trousers', alongside the caption 'in case it kicks off'.
The court also heard a local man, Ramon Hernandez, recalled meeting Jay on the morning of June 17 in Masca. He said Jay asked if a bus or taxi would take him to Los Cristianos, and they told him the next bus was due at 10am and the area did not have a taxi service.
Dr Richard Shepherd, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the court Mr Slater's cause of death was likely severe head injury.
Asked if there were any signs of restraint or assault he said: 'The patterns of injuries when someone is assaulted or restrained or held or pushed are very different from the types of injuries or patterns I saw with Jay, so I saw nothing to suggest that was the case. '
He said it was not possible to completely rule out a push, as that would not leave a mark, but added there was 'nothing to suggest there was an assault, gripping, holding or anything of that sort'.
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