Jay Slater’s mum pleads for witnesses to wait his inquest

The inquest into the dying of Jay Slater used to be adjourned after a plea from his mom to hunt key witnesses to occasions ahead of he fell right into a ravine in Tenerife.

Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, went lacking within the early hours of 17 June 2024 after attending a tune pageant in Playa de las Americas at the Spanish island.

Preston Coroner’s Court heard one of the crucial 19-year-old’s pals and different witnesses “could not be located” regardless of months-long police efforts to seek out them.

His mom Debbie Duncan shed tears in courtroom as she requested senior coroner Dr James Adeley to “bring these people in front of us”.

Dr Adeley started the inquest by means of revealing two of the buddies he had travelled to the island with, Lucy Law and Bradley Geoghan (often referred to as Bradley Hargreaves), have been on vacation.

A relative of Mr Geoghan informed the BBC he had handiest been given the date for the inquest inside the previous 10 days and had equipped the coroner’s administrative center with proof of a pre-booked circle of relatives vacation in a foreign country – which she stated the courtroom had approved.

She stated he used to be glad to offer proof at the new date.

Dr Adeley additionally stated the Metropolitan Police in London had attempted to find Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, who have been renting an AirBnB to which Mr Slater travelled within the early hours of 14 June, however neither guy might be discovered.

The apprentice bricklayer’s frame used to be discovered by means of Spanish police in a far flung nationwide park on 15 July, with critical head accidents in step with a fall from peak.

According to toxicology reviews and his personal messages, Mr Slater were below the affect of substances and alcohol, with strains of MDMA, cocaine and ketamine in his gadget when he died – despite the fact that it used to be now not transparent how lengthy ahead of his dying he had taken them.

The inquest additionally heard Mr Slater had despatched messages to pals on social media regarding being with “two kids” who had stolen a “luxury” watch from somebody, and had despatched an image of himself with two knives.

Mr Slater had were given right into a automobile and used to be pushed to the AirBnB within the far flung village of Masca, round 22 miles (36km) clear of the place he used to be staying.

He used to be remaining heard from round 8:30 BST that morning, when he referred to as Miss Law and informed her he used to be misplaced and had 1% battery on his telephone ahead of the decision lower out, she up to now informed the BBC.

Miss Duncan stated in courtroom: “How can we ever get any understanding?

“There’s issues we wish to query.

“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 little while to believe ahead of saying the inquest could be behind schedule.

He informed Miss Duncan: “You wish to speak to the witnesses who last saw him.

“You heard the difficulties we have now had looking for those 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 participate, Joshua Forshaw, stated he had were given chatting to Mr Slater and his pals on the airport.

He informed the courtroom the remaining time he noticed Mr Slater used to be on the Papayago nightclub, which used to be web hosting the NRG tune pageant, at the night time of 16 June 2024.

“It wasn’t long after the event had started,” Mr Forshaw stated.

“He seemed to be in a happy mood, joyful to be there.”

The coroner identified that during his authentic observation Mr Forshaw had described Mr Slater as showing to be “off his head” on medication.

In courtroom Mr Forshaw stated he believed Mr Slater had inebriated numerous alcohol, however used to be not sure about what medication he had taken

He stated the remaining time he noticed him Mr Slater informed him “some kids had just took an AP off somebody” and that he used to be “on his way to sell it for 10 quid”.

He clarified that AP referred to a luxurious watch emblem and quid used to be a “code for a grand [£1,000]”.

Hours later, when he used to be in mattress, Mr Forshaw won a video from Mr Slater appearing him in a space of mountains, which he stated used to be between 05:50 and 07:20 on 17 June.

Mr Forshaw additionally informed the inquest Mr Slater despatched him an image of himself with “two knives in his trousers”, along the caption “in case it kicks off”.

He stated he by no means stored the image however later informed Lancashire Police about it.

Mr Forshaw stated at 07:30 he went to the lodge the place Mr Slater were staying together with his buddy Mr Geoghan.

While he used to be there, Mr Slater video-called Mr Geoghan via Snapchat.

He stated he may now not recall a lot of the dialog, however stated Mr Slater used to be speaking about now not having the ability to come up with the money for a taxi.

He stated Bradley recommended they may kind the fee when it arrived on the lodge.

When requested how Mr Slater sounded, Mr Forshaw spoke back: “He wasn’t distressed, didn’t seem angry or anything, was just certain he was going to make it back home.”

He added he may now not take note whether or not he informed Bradley concerning the image with the knives, which used to be despatched a little while ahead of the decision.

The courtroom additionally heard a neighborhood guy, Ramon Hernandez, had recalled assembly Mr Slater at the morning of 17 June in Masca as he and a pal have been on their technique to paintings.

They stated Mr Slater requested if a bus or taxi would take him to Los Cristianos, and so they informed him the following bus used to be due at 10:00 and the realm didn’t have a taxi carrier.

Det Ch Insp Rachel Higson, head of virtual media investigations at Lancashire Police, tested Mr Slater’s telephone and stated it had recorded “a lot of steps and inclines”.

However she stated there used to be not anything to signify he used to be “under any threat from anybody”.

Giving proof previous, Dr Richard Shepherd, a expert forensic pathologist, informed the courtroom Mr Slater’s explanation for dying used to be most probably critical head harm.

Dr Adeley requested if there have been any indicators of restraint or attack at the frame, which the courtroom heard confirmed indicators of decomposition in step with mendacity in a sizzling stipulations for a number of weeks.

Dr Shepherd answered: “This is something I considered very carefully.

“The patterns of accidents when somebody is assaulted or restrained or held or driven are very other from the varieties of accidents or patterns I noticed with Jay, so I noticed not anything to signify that used to be 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 “not anything to signify there used to be an attack, gripping, preserving or anything else of that kind”.

Mr Slater’s disappearance sparked monumental media protection and intense social media hypothesis, which boiled over into conspiracy theories or even malicious trolling of his family and friends.