Jay Slater told his mate he was going to a remote Airbnb “to sell a watch” he had previously “taken,” his inquest has heard. The 19-year-old’s pal, Brad Hargreaves, has been giving evidence at Jay Slater’s inquest in Preston this morning (July 24).
Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was discovered dead on July 15 last year at the Juan Lopez Ravine in Tenerife. He had vanished on June 17, after leaving a party in Playa de las Americas and travelling north to a secluded Airbnb in Masca, before trying to return on foot. Rumours surrounding whether Jay had nicked a Rolex watch were extensively reported at the time, while it was also discussed at the previous hearing of Jay’s inquest in May.
Speaking to the coroner this morning (July 24), Brad said he received a Snapchat from Jay, in which he confessed he had ‘taken a watch’.
In another Snapchat message, Jay said he was returning to the Airbnb in Masca with Ayub Qassim and Steven ‘Rocky’ Roccas.
Brad told the court: “I didn’t think anything of it because there are a lot of people selling fake stuff on the strip. Loads of watches.”
Brad told the inquest that Jay said he was going “to sell a watch” while at the Airbnb.
Asked why he didn’t question Jay further about this, Brad replied: “Because I was under the influence of drugs.”
But, in his own evidence to the court, Ayub said that Jay hadn’t stolen the watch.
He told the court there was a “Romanian looky looky guy” who was selling fake watches. The man tried selling a watch to Ayub and he said: “nah, I don’t want that, it’s fake”.
“One thing I can say is that Jay didn’t steal no watch,” he tells the court.
Asked why Jay would be saying he had stolen a watch if he hadn’t, Ayub said it could have been bravado.
“When you’re younger you might exaggerate things,” he said.
“But 100% I didn’t see a watch getting taken, maybe he was just bigging himself up to his pals.”
Jay, Brad and their mate Lucy Law had been introduced to Ayub and Rocky by another contact, Brandon Hodgson.
Brandon cannot be located to give evidence, the court heard today.
Discussing the watch situation, Brad told the coroner the ‘only thing’ he knows about it is what Jay said on Snapchat, but he suggested Brandon knew more.
“That’s why I thought Brandon should be here because he knows a lot more about it than just the Snapchat,” he added.
Previously, Brad had told the court that on the night before Jay disappeared, Brad says the pals had been out for drinks until 6pm before heading to the festival, where they ‘split up because it was so busy’. Brad recounted how Jay was ‘ejected’ from a club for being ‘so drunk he couldn’t stand up’, but later appeared to be in a ‘better state’.
He told the court that Jay had taken ecstasy and cocaine that night, describing him as ‘giddy’.
Brad remembered his last face-to-face conversation with Jay at Magic Mike’s takeaway, where Jay announced he was ‘gonna stay’ with Ayub and Rocky.
The inquest heard that the Jay video called Brad from the Airbnb in Masca, showing off the bed they had prepared for him.
Jay made another call via Snapchat while he was ‘walking down a road’, which turned out to be his final conversation with Brad.
Brad told the inquest: “At that point I might have been feeling a bit worried. He said ‘I’m gonna come back down’ and he was asking if we had any drinks left at the apartment.”
When Brad asked Jay how far he was from the apartment, Jay checked his phone and responded ’14 hours’ walk’.
“I said wow, why are you so far away, get a taxi back,” Brad told the court. “He then said ‘I’ll ring you back’ and that was the last time I spoke to Jay.”
