Mystery Deepens as Key Tenerife Witnesses Vanish Ahead of Jay Slater Inquest Finale

Here’s a question for you — how does a young bricklayer from a quiet town in East Lancashire end up the subject of an inquest thousands of miles away, tucked into a lonely ravine on Tenerife? Jay Slater’s story isn’t just a somber tale of a life lost; it’s a labyrinth of missed calls, disappearing friends, and a battery clinging to life at 1%. A month-long search ended with his remains found in Rural Parc de Teno, revealing signs of an accidental fall, but the mystery isn’t quite settled. With two key friends seemingly vanishing into thin air and new court revelations pointing to a fatal head injury, one might wonder — how much can we really piece together when half the puzzle goes off the grid? Buckle up, because this inquest is unearthing more than just facts; it’s digging into the shadows behind a tragic, tangled journey. LEARN MORE.

An inquest into the death of Jay Slater is taking place today (21 May), and new information is being revealed in court.

The 19-year-old bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, East Lancashire, was found in a ravine on the island of Tenerife on 15 July last year.

Authorities discovered his remains in a ravine located in Rural Parc de Teno following a month-long search and investigation, having been reported missing on 17 June 2024 after attending the New Rave Generation music festival with some friends.

One of his friends, Lucy Law, alerted local authorities that she hadn’t heard from him since about 9am on the Monday morning when he told her he ‘didn’t know where he was’ and he had ‘cut his leg’ on a cactus, while having one percent of battery on his phone.

Slater’s remains were confirmed in court documents to have showed signs of an accidental fall.

Slater’s body was found a month after he was reported missing (Family handout)

As the inquest began today, coroner Dr Adeley explained that two of Slater’s friends who were with him in Tenerife, Law and Brad Hargreaves, ‘cannot be located’, Manchester Evening News reports.

“We can’t find them. They have denied who they are and we have had police looking for them but we can’t find them,” the coroner stated.

Dr Richard Shepherd, a Home Office pathologist, gave evidence at the inquest today, noting that there were ‘extensive changes’ in Slater’s body composition that were normal ‘in that period of 28 days or thereabouts’.

He confirmed that it was a fatal head injury that cost Slater his life, explaining: “The injury is so severe that I have no doubt at all that he would have been rendered immediately unconscious,” adding that it ‘would have had an immediate and devastating effect’.

Dr Shepherd added that a CT scan revealed ‘a severe fracture of the head’, while Spanish authorities also attributed the teenager’s death to a severe traumatic brain injury.

The inquest heard that two of Slater’s friends and Qassim could not be found (Family handout)

In the early hours of 17 June last year, Slater headed to an Airbnb in the Masca village in north-west Tenerife, the other side of the island to the apartment he was staying in with his friends in Los Cristianos.

He stayed in Casa Abuela Tina with two men, one of whom was named Ayub Qassim, who’d previously claimed that Slater ‘refused a lift’, as the teenager aimed to make it back on foot.

Coroner’s officer Alice Swarbrick was asked to provide evidence to show that she went through an extended effort to track him, and other witnesses down.

The inquest heard that the coroner ‘had the Met Police out looking for’ Qassim, but he has still not been located.