Josh Forshaw told an inquest into Jay Slater’s death how the teenager was “off his head” on drugs and sent him a photo of knives in his possession while in Tenerife
A friend of Jay Slater says the tragic teen sent him a photo of himself with “knives down his trousers” shortly before his death, an inquest has heard.
The 19-year-old from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, died after suffering several injuries consistent with a fall in a rocky area in Tenerife last June. His remains were finally found a month later near the village of Masca after he went missing following the Spanish island’s NRG music festival. It’s believed he died after falling from height in the steep and inaccessible area where he was eventually found. His disappearance sparked a huge wave of media attention before his body was finally discovered.
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An inquest into the apprentice bricklayer’s death is being held today at Preston Coroner’s Court.
Witness Josh Forshaw met Jay and his friends as they queued to board the plane from Manchester to Tenerife. Josh later shared contact details with Jay and met the group at the music festival. Josh said that Jay “seemed dead happy” and that he was “off his head on drugs”.
Today Josh told proceedings Jay had sent him a photo of himself with “knives down his trousers”.
He said the image had been captioned: “In case it kicks off”.
The witness added he did not inform Spanish police about the picture but after he returned home to the UK, he informed Lancashire Police about the photo.
The inquest also heard claims Jay stole a Rolex watch worth an estimated £12,000 before he went missing. Jay sent a message to Josh where he said: “Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP [expensive watch strap] off somebody and was on the way to sell it.”
He added Jay told him he was going to sell the watch strap for “10 quid”, clarifying this is slang for £10,000, not £10.
Josh added Jay “seemed dead happy” and was “off his head on drugs.”
The inquest heard earlier that Jay’s cause of death was a head injury after he fell from height. Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his body was already decomposing when he examined it.
He explained: “There were extensive changes due to decomposition. There were changes due to the period of time he was lying in a hot environment – changes I would expect to see in that period of 28 days or thereabouts.
“The pattern of injuries is entirely consistent with a heavy fall from height.”
Toxicologist Dr Stephanie Martin also told the inquest Jay had a cocktail of multiple different drugs in his system when he died, including ecstasy, alcohol and ketamine.
She added the evidence suggests ecstasy had been used within “a day or so” before Jay’s death but “ketamine had been used over a much longer period”.
The inquest continues.