An inquest into the death of Jay Slater has been adjourned after his grieving mother begged the coroner to summon key witnesses who could not be located.

The 19-year-old’s body was found in a ravine in Tenerife last July following a 29-day search.

Senior Coroner Dr James Adeley halted proceedings at Preston Coroner’s Court after Debbie Slater made an emotional plea for witnesses to be brought before the inquest to answer crucial questions about her son’s final hours.

Jay Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had travelled to the Spanish island last June to attend the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas with two friends, Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves.

An inquest into the death of Jay Slater has been adjourned after his grieving mother begged the coroner to summon key witnesses who could not be located

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His disappearance sparked widespread media interest and numerous social media conspiracy theories.

After an agonising month-long search, Jay’s body was discovered on July 15 in the remote Rural de Teno National Park, near to where his phone last pinged at 8.49am on June 17.

The teen travelled to an Airbnb apartment in Masca with two men – including convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim – in the early hours of June 17, before leaving at around 8am.

Jay posted a final Snapchat picture of himself smoking on the doorstep of the apartment at 7.30am before departing shortly after.

Coroner’s officer Alice Swarbrick revealed extensive attempts to trace other witnesses, including Qassim, who the Met Police were unable to locate.

Jay’s father Warren told the court: “The two people who can put some light on whatever happened to Jay aren’t in court today.”

The inquest heard toxicology findings revealing traces of ecstasy, cocaine and ketamine in Jay’s system.

Toxicologist Dr Stephanie Martin told the court that due to the time between Jay’s death and samples being taken, they couldn’t determine if he was under the influence when he fell, but noted he would have taken ketamine within the previous 12 hours.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd told the inquest Jay suffered a “heavy fall from height” and the “devastating” effects would have been “immediate”. A post-mortem examination concluded he died of traumatic head injuries.

Jay’s mother Debbie made an emotional plea for the coroner to do more to summon Qassim and Steven Roccas, the other man Jay went to the Airbnb with.

“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,” she said.

“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.”

One of the conspiracy theories claimed Jay had stolen a £12,000 watch, which his mother dismissed as “vile rumours”.

The 19-year-old’s body was found in a ravine in Tenerife last July following a 29-day search

PAJosh Forshaw, who met Jay on the flight to Tenerife, told the inquest he received a message from the teen saying: “Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP [luxury watch strap] off somebody and was on the way to sell it.”

Forshaw said Jay seemed “off his head on drugs” the night before his death and claimed Jay sent him a photo showing “knives down his trousers” captioned “in case it kicks off”.

After Dr Adeley heard Debbie Slater’s plea, he paused the hearing before adjourning it until a later date, likely in a couple of months.

DCI Rachel Higson told the inquest that Jay’s phone recorded “a lot of steps and inclines” between 7.59am and 8.49am on the day he disappeared, with no data recorded after that time.

Dutch rescue team Signi Zoekhonden explained that while the route Jay took was “pretty easy” to begin with, the area where his body was found is “really steep and dangerous”.