The inquest into the death of Jay Slater was suddely adjourned as a coroner examined the death of the 19-year-old who went missing in Tenerife in June last year

Jay Slater’s inquest has opened and been adjourned(Image: Family Handout/LBT Global/PA)

An inquest into the death of Jay Slater was suddenly adjourned as his mum begged the coroner to try and track down a number of key figures.

The apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs., disappeared during a holiday in Tenerife. He had been to the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas before travelling to an Airbnb in the northwest of the island.

He then left that property in the early hours of June 17 last year intending to walk back to an apartment in Los Cristianos but instead called a friend to say he was lost, thirsty and only had 1% battery left on his phone. That was the last time he was heard from.

His disappearance sparked a major manhunt on the Spanish island and a media frenzy in the UK coupled with numerous conspiracy theories.

Jay Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, pleaded with the coroner to find two men who were renting an Airbnb that Jay travelled to before he disappeared(Image: Facebook)

His body was eventually found at the bottom of a ‘dangerous’ ravine a month after his disappearance on July 15.

The inquest, at Preston Coroners Court, was eventually adjourned so the coroner could attempt to find two men, Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, who were staying at the Airbnb Jay travelled back to. The court had also been unable to find Jay’s two friends.

This is what emerged during Jay’s inquest.

The coroner said Jay’s friend, Lucy Law ‘cannot be found’(Image: Instagram)

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Friends can’t be found

Jay’s friends who were with him in Tenerife, Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves, ‘cannot be located’, the coroner said.

Coroner Dr James Adeley told Preston Coroners’ Court: “We can’t find them. They have denied who they are and we have had police looking for them but we can’t find them.”

Lucy is believed to be in Tenerife and Brad is also believed to be on a holiday which was booked last October.

Lucy Law was the last person Jay Slater spoke to before he disappeared(Image: Instagram)

The court heard Lucy was the last person to speak to Jay before he disappeared. Last year, she paid tribute to him on Instagram, calling him “one of a kind”.

The court heard that around 7:30am on the day Jay disappeared, he video called Brad and told him he didn’t have the money for a taxi.

Brad told him to just ‘get a taxi here’ and he could either jump out and not pay for it or they would pay for it.

Brad Hargreaves was also on holiday with Jay Slater but has been unable to be located for the inquest(Image: bradg14233/Instagram)

The coroner has also been trying to locate Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas who were staying at the Airbnb Jay travelled to after the NRG Festival; however, they have proved equally as elusive.

Jay’s mum, Debbie Duncan, pleaded with the coroner to try to find the two men so they could get an understanding of what happened to Jay that night.

The coroner adjourned the inquest to try to find them again.

Stolen Rolex

The inquest heard claims that Jay had stolen a Rolex watch worth £12,000 before his disappearance.

Between 5.03am and 5.52am on the morning Jay went missing, a message was sent from his phone saying: “Just took a £12k Rolly off some **** off to get 10 quid for it now.”

Jay also sent a message to Josh Forshaw, who had met Jay and his friends as they queued to board the plane from Manchester to Tenerife.

Jay’s mum Debbie had previously spoken out to dismiss claims her son had stolen a watch(Image: CHRIS NEILL)

Josh shared contact details with Jay and met the group at the music festival.

In the message to Josh, Jay 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.”

Josh Forshaw gave evidence via video link and told the court that 10 quid is slang for £10,000.

Debbie Duncan had to bury her son, Jay Slater, in August last year(Image: Facebook)

Last year, after Jay went missing, his mum Debbie spoke out about the watch claims and said: “I’ve no idea where these drug stories have come from and the stuff about him stealing a watch is nonsense. The people saying stuff about him didn’t know Jay and they don’t know us.”

Cocktail of drugs

There were two toxicology reports completed after Jay’s body was found, which detected a number of drugs in his system.

Toxicologist Dr Stephanie Martin told the inquest that, although tests when someone who has been dead for some time are “extremely challenging”, she determined that Jay had ecstasy in his system at the time of his death.

Also present in his system was a cocaine metabolite, which is present when cocaine is taken at the same time as the consumption of alcohol.

Jay’s body was found at the bottom of a deep and dangerous ravine a month after he went missing(Image: PA)

At the time his body was found, the Spanish authorities also carried out their own toxicology tests, when ketamine was found in Jay’s system.

Dr Martin added: “ The only difference between our results and their results is that they found ketamine and its metabolites.”

The doctor said that one “possible explanation” for why the Spanish authorities found ketamine in Jay’s system but toxicology tests carried out in the UK did not is “the time between the two post mortem investigations”.

Josh told the inquest that Jay seemed “dead happy” and he was “off his head on drugs”. He told the coroners’ court that Jay had asked him to break an MDMA pill in half for him and Brad.