Jay slater inquest adjourned as coroner addresses 'need for answers'

A CORONER TOOK THE STEP AFTER A PLEA FROM HIS MUM 16:16, 21 May 2025 The inquest into the death of Jay Slater has been adjourned so attempts can again be made to track down two key

witnesses. The 19 year-old was found dead in a ravine in Rural Parc de Teno, in Tenerife, on July 15 last year. The apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, east Lancashire, had attended

the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas. He travelled to an Airbnb in the remote Masca village in north-west Tenerife in the early hours of June 17, following an NRG event. Jay then

left the property, with the teenager intending to walk to the apartment his friends were staying in at Los Cristianos. However, he disappeared, sparking a month-long search operation which

made headlines across the UK and Spain. The inquest into his death today (Wednesday, May 21) got underway at Preston Coroner's Court. The hearing was told that the two men whose Airbnb

Jay had gone back to after the festival, and before he vanished, cannot be located. They are named Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas. Article continues below Lancashire's Senior Coroner Dr

James Adeley's office have already gone to significant lengths to locate the two men, including asking the Metropolitan Police to serve witness summons on them, it was said, but their

efforts have so far been unsuccessful When she was asked if she was happy for their initial statements to be read into the record, Jay's mum Debbie Duncan pleaded with the coroner to

bring 'these people in front of us.' "I know you tried to locate them but how can we ever get any understanding? We know he died, we know he had an accident, but from him

leaving that holiday resort to going up there...?" she said. "We read the statements. There are things that we want to question. We want these people in front of us. My son went on

holiday and didn't come back so there are questions we need to ask. Please." After leaving court to deliberate, Dr Adeley returned to court and said he would adjourn the hearing,

so that further efforts could be made to track them down. "The question in any inquest is that of how somebody comes by their death" he said. "The difficulty is in the

interpretation. We could simply deal with Jay's death by the fact that he has walked into the middle of nowhere and fallen off a cliff." Addressing Jay's mother Debbie, he

continued: "However, you wish to speak to the witnesses, who last saw him. You have heard of the difficulties we have had trying to find these two witnesses. "In view of your

distress and your need for answers we will make an attempt to find them again using whatever means we can. I am not confident of success but I will do what I can." The date it will be

heard again is not yet known, but Dr Adeley said it would likely resume 'in a couple of months.' Earlier in the hearing, Police Coroner's officer Alice Swarbrick said police

had attempted to serve a witness summons on Lucy Law, a friend who was with Jay in Tenerife, but she couldn't be found. Article continues below Meanwhile, Brad Hargreaves - also with

Jay in Tenerife last June - is currently believed to be on a holiday booked last October, Ms Swarbrick added.