Jay Slater's pal sent 'fuming' voicemail before death as erratic final hours become clear
One of the last people to see Jay Slater alive left him a "fuming" voicemail before he vanished on holiday in Tenerife, an inquest heard.
The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer was partying at NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas before he ended up at a holiday rental apartment in the early hours of June 17 last summer.
Evidence suggests he left the flat hours later, attempted the long walk back to his own apartment and tragically fell into a ravine.
At the inquest into his death on Thursday, Jay's pal Lucy Law, who had known the teen for around six or seven years, walked through the timeline of Jay's last night out on Sunday, June 16.
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She and pal Brandon Hodgson had gone to a bar called Veronica's to watch the England match. Jay and another friend, Bradley Hargreaves, joined them for around 20 minutes and then left.
The group met up again later on at around midnight. When asked how drunk Jay was, Lucy told the court: "He was visibly intoxicated but I wouldn't say he was in a state or anything, he wasn't mangled."
Lucy said the group then headed back out to the festival. She told the inquest that Jay said he was going to the toilet, however he was taking a long time. When he didn't return after a while, Lucy said she went to find him.
"We all split up to try and find him in the place but then none of us could find him in there so at this point our phones were nearly dead and he was still not answering his phone," she said.
"We left to see if we could find him outside. We had a look on The Strip. At this point I thought he's probably made mates with someone or has found a girl and ventured off."
She told the inquest that Jay was a "social butterfly" and it would not be unusual for him to go off and make friends.
Lucy continued: "Then he messaged us and said 'I'm in Oasis'. We couldn't see him. Then he messaged saying he was in Sugar Reef which is two or three clubs up. But we couldn't see him there either."
After not being able to find him, Lucy left Jay a voicemail which said: "Where are you and what are you doing? I am coming down to get you. If you're not there this time I will be f****** fuming."
Lucy eventually found Jay, but he reportedly told her that he wasn't ready to head home yet. She told the inquest: "I said we'd all been worried about him but he just found the situation funny. Me and Brandon want you to go home and he said 'there's no way I'm going home'.
"I asked him to wait there and went back up to get Brandon and Brad. Me and Brandon got in a taxi, Brad walked down to meet Jay. I went home from there so I don't know what happened after that."
Lucy's evidence comes as Jay's other friend, convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, told the inquest that he offered the tragic teen a place to stay at his flat in Masca, approximately 40 minutes away from the strip where the group had been partying.
Jay asked Quassim if he could stay with him at his place, because everyone else had left. When they eventually got back to the Airbnb, Jay reportedly asked Quassim for a phone charger.
The pal told the inquest: "He asked for a charger. I said go and get it in Rocky's room. He has gone in there and grabbed the charger from the side of his bed and stuck it in the kitchen.
"He started charging it in the kitchen. I ran upstairs and grabbed him a blanket. I went past the bathroom and grabbed him a towel as well. I said 'that's you innit'.
Of their final conversation, Quassim said: "He asked for a fag and I left my deck downstairs. I said goodnight and went upstairs."
Just hours later, Jay is said to have left the property to start walking home, but he never made it back.
The teen was reported missing and after a search that lasted several weeks, his body was tragically discovered in a remote ravine.
A huge search operation 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 July 15.
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 first 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 at the time as the family still had questions for the last people to see him alive.
Jay's friend Lucy was the first to sound the alarm when Jay vanished. The pair were mates prior to the getaway and both hail from Lancashire.
In the immediate aftermath of his disappearance, she spearheaded initial search operations and provided support to the teenager's relatives upon their arrival. She was absent from the initial inquest into his death, with her family explaining she was overseas and unaware the hearing was scheduled.
Meanwhile, another pal, Bradley, gave evidence at today's hearing in person after missing the inquest when it started. He also made the journey from Lancashire to Tenerife with Jay. He possessed knowledge of Jay's final whereabouts after receiving the location from the lad himself.
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.
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