The inquest aimed at determining what happened to Jay Slater, 19, while he was holidaying in Tenerife with his friends last year is being held on Thursday (July 24). Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had been to the NRG music festival with friends in Playa de las Americas in the south of the Canary Island on June 16 last year. In the early hours of June 17, he headed north to a secluded Airbnb in the Rural Parc de Teno.
He disappeared after leaving the property on foot that morning and was reported missing a day later. The apprentice bricklayer’s body was found on July 15 by Spain’s Civil Guard. The inquest, held at Preston Coroner’s Court, was shown social media messages in which he claimed to have stolen a watch worth £12,000 before he went to the Airbnb. However, Mr Slater’s friend and convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim – one of the last people to see Mr Slater alive – told the inquest the claims were “100% inaccurate”. The inquest has also heard from Bradley Geoghegan, also known as Bradley Hargreaves, who told the inquest that Mr Slater told him on Snapchat at 5.30am that he was leaving to go to the Airbnb. He also revealed the final chilling words that the two men shared.
According to Bradley Geoghegan, who was with Mr Slater in Tenerife last June, Mr Slater was “not upset” in messages and a call to him. Mr Geoghegan told the inquest that Mr Slater told him on Snapchat at 5.30am that he was leaving to go to the Airbnb. Once there, he said Mr Slater sent him a video of a bed that had been made up for him on a sofa.
However, he later told him he was leaving to go back to Playa de las Americas “because he wanted to come back to the apartment we were at to carry on drinking”. He added: “I think he probably got where they were, sobered up and thought, ‘why have I come here?’”
At 8.30am, Mr Slater video-called Mr Geoghegan while he was “walking down a road”. At this point, Mr Geoghegan told the inquest he “might have been feeling a bit worried,” and that Mr Slater was asking if they had any drinks left at their apartment.
Mr Geoghegan said he told Mr Slater to “see where he was” on the island using a mobile app.
“It was a 14-hour walk or a one-hour drive, so I said get a taxi back,” he recalled.
He added: “I said, ‘Wow, why are you so far away, get a taxi back’. He then said ‘I’ll ring you back’ and that was the last time I spoke to Jay”.
Mr Qassim was scolded by the judge during the inquest after he attempted to speak about “the kids dying in Palestine”. He said: “First and foremost, I want to send my condolences to Jay’s family. I want people to also think about the kids that are dying…” At which point he was told by the coroner: “You are not here to make political statements.”