Jay Slater's mum pleads for witnesses to attend inquest

Jay Slater with his mother, Debbie Duncan

The inquest into the death of Jay Slater was adjourned after a plea from his mother to seek key witnesses to events before he fell into a ravine in Tenerife.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, went missing in the early hours of 17 June 2024 after attending a music festival in Playa de las Americas on the Spanish island.

Preston Coroner's Court heard some of the 19-year-old's friends and other witnesses "could not be located" despite months-long police efforts to find them.

His mother Debbie Duncan shed tears in court as she asked senior coroner Dr James Adeley to "bring these people in front of us".

Dr Adeley began the inquest by revealing two of the friends he had travelled to the island with, Lucy Law and Bradley Geoghan (also known as Bradley Hargreaves), were on holiday.

A relative of Mr Geoghan told the BBC he had only been given the date for the inquest within the past 10 days and had provided the coroner's office with evidence of a pre-booked family holiday overseas - which she said the court had accepted.

She said he was happy to give evidence on the new date.

Dr Adeley also said the Metropolitan Police in London had tried to locate Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, who were renting an AirBnB to which Mr Slater travelled in the early hours of 14 June, but neither man could be found.

The apprentice bricklayer's body was found by Spanish police in a remote national park on 15 July, with severe head injuries consistent with a fall from height.

According to toxicology reports and his own messages, Mr Slater 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 Mr Slater had 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.

Mr Slater had got into a car and 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 8:30 BST that morning, when he called Miss Law and told her he was lost and had 1% battery on his phone before the call cut out, she previously told the BBC.

The disappearance of Jay Slater sparked a month long period of intense publicity on both mainstream and social media

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 adjourned for a short time to consider before announcing the inquest would be delayed.

He told Miss Duncan: "You wish to speak to the witnesses who last saw him.

"You heard the difficulties we've had trying to find these witnesses – Qassim and Roccas.

"In view of your distress we will make attempts to find them using whatever means we can."

Earlier one witness who had agreed to take part, Joshua Forshaw, said he had got chatting to Mr Slater and his friends at the airport.

He told the court the last time he saw Mr Slater was at the Papayago nightclub, which was hosting the NRG music festival, on the night of 16 June 2024.

"It wasn't long after the event had started," Mr Forshaw said.

"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.

In court Mr Forshaw said he believed Mr Slater had drunk a lot of alcohol, but was unsure about what drugs he had taken

He said the last time he saw him Mr Slater 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 clarified that AP referred to a luxury watch brand and quid was a "code for a grand [£1,000]".

Jay Slater was on holiday in Tenerife when he went missing

Hours later, when he was in bed, Mr Forshaw received a video from Mr Slater showing him in an area of mountains, which he said was between 05:50 and 07:20 on 17 June.

Mr Forshaw also told the inquest Mr Slater sent him a picture of himself with "two knives in his trousers", alongside the caption "in case it kicks off".

He said he never saved the picture but later told Lancashire Police about it.

Mr Forshaw said at 07:30 he went to the hotel where Mr Slater had been staying with his friend Mr Geoghan.

While he was there, Mr Slater video-called Mr Geoghan through Snapchat.

He said he could not recall much of the conversation, but said Mr Slater was talking about not being able to afford a taxi.

He said Mr Hargreaves suggested they could sort the payment when it arrived at the hotel.

When asked how Mr Slater sounded, Mr Forshaw replied: "He wasn't distressed, didn't seem angry or anything, was just certain he was going to make it back home."

He added he could not remember whether he told Mr Geoghan about the picture with the knives, which was sent a short time before the call.

The court also heard a local man, Ramon Hernandez, had recalled meeting Mr Slater on the morning of 17 June in Masca as he and a friend were on their way to work.

They said Mr Slater asked if a bus or taxi would take him to Los Cristianos, and they told him the next bus was due at 10:00 and the area did not have a taxi service.

'No signs of attack'

Det Ch Insp Rachel Higson, head of digital media investigations at Lancashire Police, examined Mr Slater's phone and said it had recorded "a lot of steps and inclines".

However she said there was nothing to suggest he was "under any threat from anybody".

Giving evidence earlier, Dr Richard Shepherd, a consultant forensic pathologist, told the court Mr Slater's cause of death was likely severe head injury.

Dr Adeley asked if there were any signs of restraint or assault on the body, which the court heard showed signs of decomposition consistent with lying in a hot conditions for several weeks.

Dr Shepherd responded: "This is something I considered very carefully.

"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".

Mr Slater's disappearance sparked enormous media coverage and intense social media speculation, which boiled over into conspiracy theories and even malicious trolling of his friends and family.