Jay Slater had traces of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine in his body when he was found dead in Tenerife after going missing – and had been ‘off his head on drugs’, an inquest was told today.
The hearing into the death of the British teenager, whose disappearance sparked a massive search in June last year, was also told that his friends had failed to attend to give their accounts.
Lucy Law – who received a call from the 19-year-old tourist saying he was lost, had 1 per cent charge on his phone and needed water – is among those who could not be traced to give evidence, a coroner revealed today.
As proceedings began, Lancashire senior coroner Dr James Adeley said police had failed in attempts to contact Ms Law and several of Mr Slater’s other British friends.
‘We can’t find them, they have stopped responding to phone calls,’ he said while Mr Slater’s parents Debbie Duncan, 55, and father Warren Slater, 58, listened in silence.
Dr Adeley also told Preston Coroner’s Court: ‘When drugs are involved in a death, the witnesses are less than forthcoming and do not wish to speak to the authorities.’
The inquest also heard his severe skull and pelvis fractures were consistent with a fall from a height – and that traces of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine were in his body. A friend also said that Mr Slater seemed to be ‘off his head on drugs’ the night before.
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, had attended the NRG Festival at Papagayo, in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife on June 16 last year.
But after becoming separated from his friends following the all-night rave he went back to an AirBnB holiday cottage in the remote village of Masca with the two Britons, convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, 31, and another man.
The apprentice bricklayer was last seen alive leaving the white-washed house at around 7.30am on June 17.
He was apparently trying to walk the 10-hour journey back to the apartment where he was staying after missing a bus back.
An immediate focus of the investigation was a post Mr Slater uploaded on Snapchat of him having a cigarette, with the location tagged at the door of the apartment at 7.30am UK time.
Here are the key events leading up to the discovery of Jay Slater’s body after the British teenager vanished in Tenerife in June 2024:
– Sunday June 16
Mr Slater attends the NRG music festival with friends at Papagayo nightclub in Playa de las Americas.
– Monday June 17
In the early hours of Monday he goes to stay in an apartment in the north of the island with people he had met.
– 7.30am Mr Slater posts a picture on Snapchat from the doorway of the property he stayed at overnight, tagged as being in Rural de Teno park.
– 8.30am He calls his friend, Lucy Law, telling her he had attempted to walk back to his accommodation after missing his bus – a journey that would take more than 10 hours. She says he told her he was ‘lost in the mountains, he wasn’t aware of his surroundings, he desperately needed a drink and his phone was on 1 per cent’. Mr Slater’s phone runs out of battery shortly after with his last known location being in Rural de Teno park.
– 9.04am
He is reported missing.
– Tuesday June 18
After friends spend the previous day searching to no avail, local police and mountain rescue teams scour Rural de Teno park for Mr Slater. His family fly out to Tenerife to join the search.
– Wednesday June 19
The search is temporarily moved to the Los Cristianos area in the south of the island because of a potential lead, but this is quickly discounted and the search returns north. His mother Debbie Duncan says she feared her son had ‘been taken against his will’.
– Thursday June 20
The search returns to Rural de Teno park, around the village of Masca.
– Friday June 21
Spanish police reject an offer of support from Lancashire Constabulary as the hunt continues. Police, firefighters and search and rescue personnel comb a vast area of land in and around the village of Masca.
– Saturday June 22
Firefighters appear to conduct the majority of the searches as they wear helmets to tackle dangerous hillside terrain in Tenerife.
– Sunday June 23
Search teams narrow their efforts on small buildings close to where Mr Slater’s phone last pinged.
– Friday June 28
The Guardia Civil appeal for volunteer associations, such as firefighters, and individual volunteers who are experts in rugged terrain to assist in a ‘busqueda masiva’, or massive search, to take place on Saturday.
– Saturday June 29
A renewed search for Mr Slater gets under way in the village of Masca, near to his last-known location, co-ordinated to take in a steep rocky area, including ravines, trails and paths.
– Sunday June 30
Spanish police call off the search for the missing teenager. Mr Slater’s family and friends stay in Tenerife to continue to look for him.
– Monday July 15
A body is found in the search for Mr Slater. Members of a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard discovered the body near Masca.
Then two phone calls emerged.
Ms Law – who later attended Mr Slater’s funeral in August – received a call at 8.30am where he said he was lost, had 1 per cent charge on his phone and needed water.
In a video call to their other friend, Brad Hargreaves, Mr Slaterwas walking on rough, stony ground, saying he was making the long walk back.
His mother and father joined family and friends to comb the island for sightings.
As the mystery surrounding the teen’s disappearance grew, ‘vile’ and ‘distressing’ conspiracy theories began to emerge that dogged efforts to find Mr Slater.
Among the vicious rumours circulating included wild claims Mr Slater had been targeted by a criminal cartel on the island for allegedly stealing a watch from a gang member – something his family vehemently denied happened.
Tragically Mr Slater’s body was found a month later in a mountainous area of the island.
He is believed to have lost his footing and fallen while desperately trying to climb through the ravine to try and return to his hotel.
A post-mortem found that he died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height. His death would have been instantaneous.
A forensic pathologist who examined Mr Slater’s body after its repatriation to the UK said at today’s inquest that injuries including severe skull and pelvis fractures were consistent from a fall from a height.
He found no sign of injuries associated with Mr Slater being assaulted prior to his death – but said his post mortem examination could not rule out the possibility that Jay had been pushed.
Dr Richard Shepherd said the injuries seen in assault victims were ‘very different from the type of injuries I saw with Jay’.
The pathologist said decomposition of Mr Slater’s body during the 28 days it lay at the bottom of the ravine in the hot Tenerife climate meant he could not ‘exclude’ the possibility of a push ‘because a push would not leave a mark’.
‘But with that proviso there was nothing to indicate an assault or gripping of any sort,’ he added.
Dr Shepherd said the injuries caused by the fall would have caused ‘instantaneous’ loss of consciousness and Mr Slater would have died soon afterwards.
‘Jay would undoubtedly have been unconscious and unaware,’ he added.
Even with immediate specialist treatment in a neurosurgical unit, Dr Shepherd said he would be ‘extremely surprised’ if Mr Slater could have survived his ‘severe’ injuries.
The inquest also heard traces of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine were found in Mr Slater’s body.
Toxicologist Dr Stephanie Martin said the length of time before Mr Slater’s body was discovered meant it was impossible to carry out tests on blood or urine.
But examination of a liver sample found metabolites of MDMA and of another recreational drug MDA, as well as of cocaine.
Spanish scientists additionally tested hair and muscle samples, finding a metabolite of ketamine, she added.
However due to the length of time between Mr Slater’s death and the samples being taken she was unable to say if she had been under the influence of drugs when he fell to his death, she said.
But he would have taken the ketamine within the previous 12 hours, she added.
The hearing was also told by one friend of Mr Slater who did give evidence about a message in which the teenager mentioned being ‘thrown out’ of the rave and trying to sell an expensive watch for £10,000.
Joshua Forshaw – who gave evidence by videolink – said he met Mr Slater and his friends for the first time when they flew out for the NRG festival and swapped Snapchat details.
He told the Spanish authorities that when he saw Mr Slater on June 16 – the night before his death – he seemed to be ‘off his head on drugs’.
Asked how he seemed by Dr Adeley, Mr Forshaw said: ‘He was quite excitable. He seemed to be in a happy mood, joyful, excited to be there.’
He assumed Mr Slater had taken ecstasy because his friend Mr Hargreaves had asked Mr Forshaw to split a tablet with him, he said.
Later that night Mr Forshaw received a Snapchat message from Mr Slater saying he had ‘ended up getting thrown out’ with two other people and planned to sell a watch for ‘ten quid’.
Mr Forshaw said that meant £10,000 but said he never saw the watch and had no involvement in attempts to sell it.
Snapchat messages normally delete automatically, but Mr Forshaw said he saved that one and later handed it to police.
However the court was told police later accidentally deleted the image, the court heard.
The Snapchat message read: ‘Yes cuz ended up getting thrown out of there me with 2 Maili kids just took an AP off some **** on way to sell it for 10 quid’.
Mr Forshaw said an AP was an expensive watch brand. The message was sent at 5.58am.
He said that later in the early morning of June 17, Mr Slater sent him another image with mountains in the background showing his top pulled up and two knives in his waistband.
At the same time through Snapchat he said Mr Slater texted him: ‘I’m carrying these in case it kicks off.’
Mr Forshaw said he didn’t save the image and did not mention it to the Spanish Guardia Civil before leaving Tenerife.
However he told Lancashire Police about it when he returned to the UK because it was ‘the right thing to do’.
Mr Forshaw said he did not ask Mr Slater if he was OK in response to the message.
Later that morning he overheard a Facetime call between Mr Slater and his friend Mr Hargreaves after going to their apartment.
‘He was slurring his words but he wasn’t begging for help or anything,’ he told the court. ‘He didn’t sound like he was in danger.’
Mr Forshaw said Mr Hargreaves urged Mr Slater to get a taxi back to where they were staying, but the teenager said he had no money.
Mr Hargreaves told Mr Slater he should either get a taxi and run off when it reached its destination, or alternatively they would pay for it, the hearing was told.
Mr Slater didn’t sound ‘distressed or angry’, he added.
The coroner pressed Mr Forshaw on whether it was true that Mr Slater sent him an image showing knives in his waistband, reminding him that he was under oath.
‘I wouldn’t lie,’ he said. ‘I went to police off my own back.’
At the close of his evidence, Dr Adeley instructed him to provide ‘proof’ that ‘ten quid’ was ‘common parlance’ meaning £10,000, warning that there would be ‘serious consequences’ if he did not comply.
Before closing the videolink, the coroner gave him until 2pm to supply the information.
As well as Mr Forshaw, witness summons were served by police on Ms Law plus Mr Slater’s friends Mr Hargreaves and Brandon Hodgson.
They also summonsed Mr Qassim, who was renting the AirBnB he went back to, and fellow Briton Steven Roccas previously known as ‘Rocky’, the coroner heard.
But in most cases they were either unknown at the addresses held by police or there was no answer, the coroner was told.
Attempts to contact them via mobile phone numbers and email addresses which they gave the Spanish authorities were also unsuccessful.
Mr Hodgson did reply to say he would be away on holiday when the inquest was heard today, having booked the trip last October.
Ms Law is currently in Tenerife, the coroner was told.
‘We’ve been looking for them for months and we cannot find them,’ Dr Adeley said. ‘We really tried, we just can’t find them.’
Asking about Mr Qassim and the fellow Briton whose AirBnb the teenager went back to, Mr Slater’s father Warren told the coroner: ‘The two people who can put some light on whatever happened to Jay aren’t in court today.’
Dr Adeley said he understood his concerns.
But he said evidence from Spanish witnesses given to the Tenerife authorities due to be spelt out to the hearing would corroborate the account Mr Qassim gave at the time.
In August, hundreds gathered in Accrington to bid a final farewell at his funeral, as his coffin was laid to rest amid an encore of drum-and-bass music.
During their eulogies, friends recalled Mr Slaters ‘buzzing and smiling’ demeanour and told their late schoolmate to ‘keep partying hard up there’.
His parents led the procession of mourners through the drizzle on August 10 to the service at the packed Accrington Crematorium Chapel, while many more watched on an outdoor screen.
On November 21, a GoFundMe page titled Get Jay Slater Home was closed after it had received £72,821 worth of donations.
In a final post on the page, Mr Slater’s family said they had been able to give a ‘truly deserved… send-off’ at his funeral.
They also explained how the donations were spent, which included hiring a search team from the Dutch non-profit organisation Signi Zoekhonden and paying for their stay in Tenerife while they searched for the teenager’s body.
The same coroner also presided over the inquest into the death of mother-of-two Nicola Bulley, who went missing while walking her dog after dropping her children off at school in in St Michael’s-on-Wyre, Lancashire, in January 2023.
Her disappearance also provoked a storm of attention on social media with TikTok sleuths sharing outlandish theories.
The 45-year-old’s body was found in the River Wyre three weeks later after a huge search effort which sparked global headlines.
Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire, later ruled that Ms Bulley’s death was accidental and that she did not have ‘any desire’ to take her own life.
That hearing took place amid tight security at County Hall in Preston, with members of the public who attended subjected to searches and warned against disrupting proceedings.
By contrast, Mr Slater’s inquest is being held at Preston Coroner’s Court.