Jay Slater’s inquest has been adjourned after a plea from his tearful mother Debbie Duncan, who told the hearing in Preston, Lancashire, she still had questions that needed answers
A “missing” witness in Jay Slater’s inquest is on holiday on the very island where he died, according to her family.
Lucy Law is believed to be in Tenerife and said to be unaware police even want to speak to her for the purposes of Mr Slater’s inquest. The hearing was adjourned on Wednesday after the teenager’s tearful mum told the coroner she still had questions which needed answers.
Preston Coroner’s Court was told witnesses in the case hadn’t been traced and these are thought to include Ms Law, who was on holiday with Mr Slater, 19, when he went missing last summer. However, speaking last night from the family home in Burnley, Lancashire, Ms Laws’s stepfather Andy Davis said: “The police have only just been round today to say that she was due to give evidence. But it’s the first time we knew of it… We had no idea Jay’s inquest was even being held today.”
A Slater family source also told Mail Online: “Lucy is in Tenerife. Another supposedly untraceable witness is on holiday in Greece. If we can find this out so quickly why can’t the police?”
READ MORE: Jay Slater’s tragic final moments and phone call during fatal walk as cause of death confirmed in inquest
Other missing witnesses include two men whose Airbnb holiday let Mr Slater, an apprentice bricklayer, went to before vanishing. After all the evidence had been heard on Wednesday, Ms Duncan addressed Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen.
She said: “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.”
Ms Law received a call last June from the 19-year-old British tourist saying he was lost, had one per cent charge on his phone and needed water. Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had attended the NRG Festival at Papagayo, in Playa de las Americas, Tenerife on June 16 last year but became separated from his friends, including Ms Law, following the all-night rave.
The inquest, now adjourned with no new date set, heard traces of drugs, including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy, were found in Mr Slater’s body and pathologists concluded his death from head injuries was consistent with a fall.
But Dr Adeley said: “When drugs are involved in a death, the witnesses are less than forthcoming and do not wish to speak to the authorities.” He later added: “We can’t find them (the witnesses), they have stopped responding to phone calls.”
Following a search lasting 29 days, Mr Slater’s body was found in a ravine on July 15. The terrain in this area was described as “really steep, really dangerous” during the inquest, which will resume at a later – as yet unfixed – date.
