Jay Slater’s cause of death in Tenerife finally revealed by coroner | UK | News

Teenager Jay Slater died from accidentally falling into a ravine in Tenerife after taking a cocktail of drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine, a coroner has now ruled. Jay, 19, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was holidaying on the Spanish island at the NRG music festival with friends in the resort of Playa de las Americas, on June 16th last year.

But he vanished the next morning after going to an Airbnb with two new friends and reported missing on June 18th after telling pals he had started an 14-hour walk back to his own apartment in the blazing heat. A major search was launched before his body was found in a steep and inaccessible ravine by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard, near the village of Masca, on July 15th. He was identified by his thumb print.

Pathologist Dr Mark Shepherd said Jay’s death was “probably instantaneous”. The cause of death was a severe, traumatic brain injury. He said: “I hope that it is of some consolation to the family that Jay would have been unaware of the situation after his fall.”

The post mortem noted that Jay’s body had undergone “extensive mummification” due to him being out in the hot sun for several weeks before he was discovered.

Jay’s heartbroken mother Debbie Duncan asked for his inquest to be resumed on Thursday this week after a number of witnesses failed to give evidence at the last hearing at Preston Coroner’s Court in May.

When it resumed, Bradley Geoghegan said on the night out before he disappeared Jay was barely standing after taking ecstasy pills, and possibly ketamine, along with cocaine and alcohol.

But Jay, forced to leave a nightclub due to his state, decided around 5-6am to go to an Airbnb on another part of the island in a car with two men they had met on the holiday – convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas.

Bradley said hours later he got a video call from Jay who was walking along a road and was still “under the influence” telling him he was making the huge trek home.

Bradley said: “I said put your maps on to see how far you were. It was like a 14-hour walk or an hour drive. I said, ‘Get a taxi back’, then he just goes, ‘I will ring you back’.”

The witness said he did not think his friend had any money on him, and taxis in Tenerife insisted on payment up front before carrying a fare.

Coroner Dr James Adeley asked the witness: “Did you get the impression he was in any way threatened or fearful, or under duress in a difficult situation?”

Bradley replied: “No. I think he probably got there and thought, ‘Why am I here?’, sobered up and decided to come back.”

Drug dealer Ayub Qassim – speaking from abroad via videolink – was warned to avoid making political statements after the Somalian began his crucial evidence by mentioning the war in Gaza.

He said: “I want people to also think about the kids that are dying…” But at this point he was interrupted and told by the coroner: “You are not here to make political statements.”

In 2015 Qassim was jailed for nine years as the ringleader of a London-based gang dealing heroin and crack cocaine in Cardiff.

He said Jay asked to come with him and a third man Steven Roccas – also known to police and who refused to engage in the inquest – to their Airbnb after getting hold of a “Rolex watch”. 

The coroner then asked Qassim about Snapchat messages Jay sent to friends in the car about a watch being stolen. 

Qassim said before leaving for their apartment he saw a Romanian take a watch he thought was fake from an unwitting bystander and tried to sell it to them. He added: “Jay did not steal no watch. I can say one hundred per cent.” 

While on the drive to Qassim’s Airbnb Jay sent a Snapchat to friends, saying: “Just took a 12k Rolly (Rolex) off some c*** with this Mali (Somalian) kid. Off to get 10 quid (thousand) for it. Off my undies ha, ha, ha.” 

Asked to explain the social media post Qassim said: “He could be boasting to his friends. He’s on a buzz, so maybe it could be that. Sometimes people do exaggerate.” 

Explaining how on the next morning Jay told him he was going to catch a bus back to his side of the island, Qassim said: “I went ‘bro, there ain’t no buses coming here any time soon’.” 

He said Mr Slater has been speaking to an elderly lady next door who claimed there were buses every 10 minutes. 

Qassim added: “At that point I presumed he’d sit at that bus stop and that’s it. He’s waiting till the first bus comes and he’s out of there.” 

Jay’s friend since high school Lucy Law was with him on Tenerife and spent their last evening together looking for him as he was partying in different night spots. 

When she eventually found him she explained hey had been worriedm. She said: “He just found the situation funny to be honest with you.” Jay told her: “I’m definitely not going home.” 

Asked about his state, she said: “He was definitely on a buzz, I would say he would have definitely taken something.” 

Lucy left with their friend Brandon Hodgson but was woken at 8.30am the following day by a phone call from Brandon saying Jay was “in the middle of nowhere.” 

The inquest was told of efforts made to contact Jay’s friend Brandon Hodgson but like Roccas, he never responded.

Giving evidence via videolink, with no camera turned on, Lucy said she rang him at 8.52am. She said: “I was like ‘what on earth are you doing, where are you?’” 

She said he told her he was in the middle of mountains and he said he needed a drink. She told him to go back to where he had come from, but he said: “I can’t go back there.” He asked whether cacti were poisonous. 

The mountain rescue team said they located Jay’s body in the Juan Lopez ravine on July 15th. Jay’s body was found in a dry watercourse 20 metres above that was an Armani bag with Jay’s phone and various gas canisters inside it. 

The mountain rescue teams “could not explain” why he chose to go down into the ravine and concluded he may have tripped or fallen in. 

Their report said: “It would be easy to slip on the rocks and fall into the void. The death of the missing person must have occurred as a result of an accidental fall.”

The earlier hearing in May heard from toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin who said Jay’s body showed traces of drugs, including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy, along with alcohol. 

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as head injuries with the pattern consistent with a fall from a height. 

Marieke Krans from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden, which uses dogs, helped in the search and said the area where the body was found was about a three-and-a-half-hour walk from the Airbnb and “really steep, really dangerous”.