Inquest to resume into death of teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife

ITV News

4 days ago

The inquest into the death of teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife last summer is due to resume.
The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was holidaying on the Spanish island and had been to the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June last year.
He is believed to have gone to a holiday rental apartment in the early hours of the next morning before vanishing, and was reported missing on 18 June.
Evidence suggests he left the flat hours later, attempted to walk back to his own apartment and fell into a ravine.
A huge search was launched before his body was found in a steep and inaccessible area by a mountain rescue team from the Spanish Civil Guard near the village of Masca on 15 July.
A number of witnesses who were with him on the night he disappeared or at the rental apartment did not attend the inquest when it started at Preston Coroner's Court in May.
The court heard they could not be traced or were unavailable, despite extensive efforts to get them to come as witnesses.
Debbie Duncan, Mr Slater's mother, tearfully asked the coroner to adjourn as the family still had questions for the last people to see him alive.
Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, agreed to adjourn to Thursday 24 July to make a final attempt to trace the witnesses.
The hearing in May heard from witnesses including toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin.
The court heard that analysis showed traces of drugs – including cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy – and alcohol in Mr Slater's body.
Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his post-mortem examination gave cause of death as head injuries and Mr Slater's body showed no evidence of restraint or assault, with the pattern of injuries consistent with a fall from height.
Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, said police had analysed Mr Slater's phone data.
On the night out he had received phone messages from friends telling him to go home as he was 'off his head'.
Phone location data suggested he travelled to the holiday flat then left the property at around 7.45am the next day.
Statements from local Spanish witnesses said they were approached and asked by Mr Slater about buses or taxis to take him home.
More messages from friends warned him about the 'boiling' heat of the day but activity data on his phone stopped at 8.51am, suggesting the battery had died.
Marieke Krans from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden helped in the search.
She said the area where the body was found was about a three and a half-hour walk from the holiday apartment and was 'really steep, really dangerous', and it was 'easy' to lose your footing.
The coroner told the hearing that one explanation for Mr Slater's death could be 'he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff'.
The inquest is scheduled to conclude on Friday.