The coroner has adjourned the inquest while he makes a further attempt to find Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas who were staying at the Airbnb Jay Slater travelled to after attending a music festival and before he went missing

Jay Slater
Jay Slater had travelled to an Airbnb in the early hours of the morning he went missing(Image: Family Handout/LBT Global/PA)

The grieving mother of tragic Jay Slater has begged the coroner to bring the men whose Airbnb her son went to hours before he went missing in Tenerife to his inquest.

Devastated Debbie Duncan was asked if she was content for the initial statements of Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas to be read into evidence but she pleaded with the coroner to instead bring “these people in front of us”.

Qassim and Roccas were staying at an Airbnb in the remote Masca village in north-west Tenerife where 19-year-old Jay Slater travelled to after attending the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas.


Debbie Duncan
Jay Slater’s mum, Debbie Duncan, has begged the coroner to find the ‘Airbnb men’ (Image: CHRIS NEILL)

Speaking at the inquest at Preston Coroners’ Court today (Weds), Debbie asked the coroner how they could “ever get any understanding” without speaking to the two men.

She said: “I know you tried to locate them but how can we ever get any understanding? We know he died, we know he had an accident, but from him leaving that holiday resort to going up there…?

“We read the statements. There are things that we want to question. We want these people in front of us.

“My son went on holiday and didn’t come back so there are questions we need to ask. Please.”

Jay Slater
Jay Slater was found at the bottom of a ravine a month after he went missing(Image: MEN Media)


Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs., left the property after arriving there in the early of June 17 intending to walk to the apartment his friends were staying in at Los Cristianos.

Tragically, he never made it.

He last spoke to friends, telling them he was lost, thirsty and only had 1% battery left on his phone.

Jay Slater
A wide-scale search was conducted after the 19-year-old told a friend he was lost, thirsty and only had 1% battery left on his phone(Image: PA)

His body was found four weeks later in an inaccessible ravine in Rural Parc de Teno close to where his mobile had last pinged.

The coroner’s office has already gone to significant lengths to locate the two men, including asking the Metropolitan Police to serve witness summons on them but their effort have so far been unsuccessful.

The coroner has adjourned the inquest and indicated it will likely resume “in a couple of months”.

A post-mortem concluded Jay had died from traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height.

Jay Slater and Debbie Duncan
Jay’s mum, Debbie, has told the coroner she has questions to ask(Image: Facebook)

Dr James Adeley said: “The question in any inquest is that of how somebody comes by their death.

“The difficulty is in the interpretation. We could simply deal with Jay’s death by the fact that he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff.”

Addressing Jay’s mother Debbie, he continued: “However, you wish to speak to the witnesses, who last saw him. You have heard of the difficulties we have had trying to find these two witnesses.