After 13 months of agony for Jay Slater’s heartbroken family, an inquest has revealed the exact details of the tragic teen’s disappearance and how he fell to his death
Jay Slater’s anguished family have finally got answers on how the teen tragically lost his way in a rocky ravine in Tenerife after 13 months of agony.
Jay went missing after heading to an Airbnb in the remote village of Masca after spending the night at the NRG rave at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort district of Playa de las América last summer.
The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had taken a “cocktail” of drugs, along with alcohol, while partying. The next morning, he decided to attempt the 14-hour trek back to his apartment, telling friends he “couldn’t go back” to where he’d been.
Jay’s mother, Debbie Duncan, begged for key witnesses to take the stand when many of Jay’s friends failed to turn up at the initial inquest hearing earlier this year – leaving his loved ones frozen in grief and uncertainty.
Finally, three of the teen’s friends gave evidence as key witnesses at this week’s inquest, shedding light on Jay’s final night out, his whereabouts before he vanished, and last phone call where he admitted he was frightened as he desperately tried to navigate unforgiving terrain in the “middle of nowhere”.
The court also heard from Spanish authorities, a pathologist and the mountain rescue team who found Jay’s body 29 days after he went missing in the Juan Lopez ravine.
From the ‘stolen’ Rolex riddle that plauged the case to Jay’s heartbreaking cause of death, here’s everything we learned from the inquest that gripped the country.
Jay Slater’s tragic cause of death
Pathologist Dr Mark Shepherd told the inquest that Jay’s death was “probably instantaneous”.
The cause of death was a severe, traumatic brain injury. “I hope it is some consolation to the family that Jay would have been unaware of the situation after his fall,” he said.
Toxicology tests revealed the 18-year-old had taken cocaine, MDMA and alcohol prior to his death. The Spanish authorities also conducted their own toxicology analysis, which found that Jay had also used ketamine, both shortly before his death and over a longer period.
Coroner Dr James Adeley ruled that Jay died by accident after falling from a height. He said that Jay’s body was formally identified using his finger and palm prints.
The post mortem found his body had undergone “extensive mummification” due to him being out in the hot sun for several weeks.
Frantic final phone call
The tragic teen made a panicked phone call telling a pal “I’m in the middle of nowhere… there is literally nothing but mountains” on the day he went missing, the court heard.
Lucy Law, who had known Jay for around six or seven years and travelled to Tenerife to party with him last summer, revealed she “started panicking” after receiving the call.
She told the inquest Jay asked her if cactuses were poisonous, with her replying: “A cactus is the least of your problems, go back to where you have just come from.”
During the call Jay told her “I can’t go back there”, but she said she didn’t feel anything bad had happened, saying: “I also feel like, if something had gone on in terms of conflict, I feel like he probably would have said.”
The inquest heard that Jay’s pal Brandon Hodgson called Lucy that morning and told her that Jay was up in the mountains. She thought it was a joke at first, before realising it was serious.
She called Jay several times at around 8.50am, in which she asked him if he knew where he was. Jay said that his mouth was dry and he needed a drink and was frightened. Tragically, his phone was on 2% battery at that point.
‘Tried to find help’
The inquest heard that Jay was reported missing at 9am on Monday, June 17, as per a report from Spanish authorities. Mountain rescue teams were notified of his disappearance at 8pm that evening.
Giving evidence of the dangers of the ravine Jay found himself in, the experts said the initial details they were given was that “when looking for the bus stop he had a fall and was afraid of dying and his phone had no battery”.
The mountain rescue specialists told the coroner that the teen’s lack of experience in mountain regions, recklessness, lack of fitness or self-control, and lack of equipment will have played a part in his death. The weather and loose falling rocks could also have been a factor.
The experts “could not explain” why Jay chose to go down into the ravine, the hearing heard. It wasn’t an area that he was familiar with, and the direction he was headed in could have given the impression there was a settlement, they said. The ravine is full of dense undergrowth and sheer, high cliffs.
As Jay had been on the move since the previous day, where he had been intoxicated, with no rest, his faculties “will have been greatly reduced,” the rescue team said. The area is very unforgiving with a steep slope and it would be easy to slip on the rocks and fall into the void.
Their conclusion was that in their opinion, the death must have occurred as an accidental fall. The fact the bag was 15-20 metres above him indicates he was walking at this location when he fell.
The post mortem findings matched with a fall from height. But the rescue team did note that heartbreakingly, Jay may have walked down the road he did to try and seek assistance.
They told the inquest that the only other plausible explanation is that he thought there was a beach or settlement at the end of the ravine where he could have sought help.
Harrowing ‘100ft’ fall
Jay was found 29 days after he went missing by two members of the Spanish mountain rescue group in trecharous ravine. The coroner told the court that Jay fell up to 100ft to his death.
The tragic teen was found eight metres above the dry river bed. His bag was found 20 metres away with his phone and passport. He is believed to have fallen 20 to 30 metres.
The mountain rescue team said the Juan Lopez ravine is unfrequented by people due to the lack of water source and unforgiving terrain. There was no indiction there was anyone with Jay at the time of the fall, according to coroner’s findings.
The coroner offered his heartfelt condolances to Jay’s family and said it was a “tragic death of young man.”
‘Stolen Rolex’ riddle
The tragic case of Jay’s disappearance was plauged by rumours about a ‘stolen’ Rolex, as the teen sent Snapchat messages to his pals bragging about snatching a designer piece of jewellery the night before his death.
And at the inquest, one of his friends finally addressed the mystery. Convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim gave evidence via video link at the inquest as a key witness, having not turned up to the earlier hearing. He gave Jay a place to stay the night at his Airbnb before he vanished.
The 31-year-old, who also goes by “Johnny Vegas”, told the coroner: “Jay did not steal no watch”. The pal said that the night before Jay disappeared, the group they were both with went to get food around 6am following a night of partying.
Jay asked Quassim if he could stay with him at his place, because everyone else had left. His flat, in Masca, was around a 40-minute drive from the strip, something his friends jokingly complained about, the inquest heard.
Qassim says he agreed to take Jay and offered to drop him off in the morning. But before they left, Qassim says he saw a Romanian man on the strip “take a watch off some other guy, some randomer” before offering it to Qassim and Slater, which he wasn’t interested in.
“Whether he gave it to Jay or not, I don’t know, but it was a fake watch,” Quassim told the court. “One thing I can say is: Jay did not steal no watch.”
After Quassim’s evidence, the court was shown a Snapchat picture sent by Jay. It’s understood to have been taken on June 17 at around 5.50am. It showed a blurry picture of the teen in a car, wearing sunglasses. The caption of the picture says: “Yes cuz ended up getting thrown out of there me with 2 maili kids just took an AP [expensive watch] off some c*** on way to sell it for 10 quid.”
In an earlier message, Jay had claimed the ‘watch’ had been a Rolex. AP refers to Audemars Piguet, an expensive watch designer.
At the inquest, coroner Dr James Adeley asked Quassim “Do you have any explanation as to why this was posted?” and he said: “No. He could be boasting to his friends, you can tell he’s on the buzz. It could be that. When we were all younger, we might over-exaggerate.”
At an earlier hearing in May, Jay’s friend and witness Josh Forshaw gave evidence on the messages, and claimed Jay was planning to sell the strap for “10 quid” – a slang term for £10,000. The whereabouts of the Rolex is still unknown, as it was never found.
Delivering his final findings today, the coroner deemed the that the ‘stolen’ Rolex was irrelevant to Jay’s death. “I consider that the watch is irrelevant to subsequent events,” he concluded.
‘Fuming’ voicemail
Jay’s pal sent him a “fuming” voicemail before he vanished, the hearing heard. Giving evidence, the friend walked through the timeline of Jay’s last night out on Sunday, June 16.
She and pal Brandon Hodgson had gone to a bar called Veronica’s to watch the England match. Jay and another friend, Bradley Hargreaves, joined them for around 20 minutes and then left.
The group met up again later on at around midnight. When asked how drunk Jay was, Lucy told the court: “He was visibly intoxicated but I wouldn’t say he was in a state or anything, he wasn’t mangled.”
Lucy said the group then headed back out to the festival. She told the inquest that Jay said he was going to the toilet, however he was taking a long time. When he didn’t return after a while, Lucy said she went to find him.
“We all split up to try and find him in the place but then none of us could find him in there so at this point our phones were nearly dead and he was still not answering his phone,” she said.
“We left to see if we could find him outside. We had a look on The Strip. At this point I thought he’s probably made mates with someone or has found a girl and ventured off.”
She told the inquest that Jay was a “social butterfly” and it would not be unusual for him to go off and make friends.
Lucy continued: “Then he messaged us and said ‘I’m in Oasis’. We couldn’t see him. Then he messaged saying he was in Sugar Reef which is two or three clubs up. But we couldn’t see him there either.”
After not being able to find him, Lucy left Jay a voicemail which said: “Where are you and what are you doing? I am coming down to get you. If you’re not there this time I will be f****** fuming.”
Jay refused to go home
At 2.48am, Lucy had messaged Jay saying: “I’ll come and get you.” But a minute later, Jay sent her a message back, saying: “Doesn’t matter, I’m on a mission.”
Lucy eventually found Jay after sending a frustrated voicemail, but he told her that he wasn’t ready to head home yet. She told the inquest: “I said we’d all been worried about him but he just found the situation funny. Me and Brandon want you to go home and he said ‘there’s no way I’m going home’.
“I asked him to wait there and went back up to get Brandon and Brad. Me and Brandon got in a taxi, Brad walked down to meet Jay. I went home from there so I don’t know what happened after that.”
‘Cocktail of drugs’
Delivering his verdict, the coroner referred to the drugs that Jay had in his system before his death. He said: “The day or so before his death Jay had taken MDMA, known as ecstasy, as well as cocaine and alcohol.”
Jay had also used ketamine “both shortly before his death and over a longer period.”
The coroner noted that a “common theme” throughout the evidence was that Jay’s friends have been asked to recall events after consuming “copious amounts of drugs and alcohol”.
He also refers to Jay being “kicked out” of the club before he went missing, because he “couldn’t stand up.”
On the night out, he had received phone messages from mates telling him to go home as he was “off his head”.
Mum’s heartbreaking statement
Jay “touched the hearts of the nation” his mum Debbie said in her heartbreaking statement before the coroner’s verdict was read out.
Debbie described how the 19-year-old had “almost qualified” as a bricklayer and that he had “a wonderful life”. She said that Jay “loved going abroad every year and was always the centre of attention”.
Jay was “always a popular boy and had many, many friends”, his mum said. He also “loved his family very much”.
The devastated mum continued: “He was learning to drive and had so many plans and a bright future ahead of him. This all changed in June 2024. Jay was counting down the days when he flew to Tenerife for the NRG festival. Not in a million years did we predict what was to unfold.
“Jay was a bundle of fun with a constant smile. He loved to go to festivals and always made new friends wherever he went. He loved to dance and did so at every opportunity. He had a large circle of good friends who have been left devastated at his tragic death.
“He was very loved and our hearts are broken. Our lives will never be the same without Jay in it. As a family we would like those here today to please remember that Jay was a real person. A loving son, brother, grandson, nephew, cousin and loyal friend to many.
“He may have been a story for the past 13 months – a story full of many untruths. He did touch the hearts of the nation and that overwhelms us. We ask you now to please let Jay rest in eternal peace.”
