Missing Jay Slater witness found ‘holidaying’ in Tenerife

One of Jay Slater’s friends who went missing before an inquest into his death was opened has been found holidaying on the island he died.

Jay, 19, vanished after attending a music festival in Tenerife last June, and his body was not found for another 29 days.

His friends Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves were some of the last people to see him alive, and gave interviews in the early days of the search.

But opening the hearing at Preston Coroners’ Court yesterday, senior coroner Dr James Adeley said the pair ‘cannot be found’.

He said: ‘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.’

Yet Ms Law’s family insisted she was on holiday, back on the island where Jay died.

Her step-father Andy Davis said last night: ‘We had no idea Jay’s inquest was even being held today.

‘The police have only just been round today to say that she was due to give evidence. But it’s the first time we knew of it.

‘They asked if Lucy was home and I said she was abroad and they asked me if I was aware that she should have been in court, and I said I wasn’t.

‘The police said they had sent Lucy paperwork with the dates on it, but the first I knew about it was when the police turned up earlier today.’

It is still not known where the other witnesses who have been summoned are.

This includes Ayub Qassim, who was renting the AirBnB Jay went back to before he died, and fellow Briton Steven Roccas, known as Rocky.

Summons were also issued for Jay’s friends Josh Forshaw, Brad Hargreaves and Brandon Hodgson.

Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan, who attended the inquest with other relatives, sobbed as she asked the coroner: ‘How can we ever get any understanding?

‘There’s things we want to question. We want these people to be sat in front of us, because our son went on holiday and didn’t come back, so there’s questions we need to ask.’

Dr Adeley agreed to adjourn the hearing at her request for the witnesses to be brought to court to give evidence before the inquest concludes.

Lucy claimed he called saying he was lost, had only 1% of battery left and needed water.

Brad told reporters Jay had video called him saying he had missed a bus and was embarking on an 11-hour trek home over rough ground.

The inquest heard Jay’s body was identified by his ‘palm print’.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said: ‘There were extensive changes due to decomposition.

‘There were changes due to the period of time he was lying in a hot environment – changes I would expect to see in that period of 28 days or thereabouts.’

The pathologist said Jay suffered several injuries but one ‘to the head is by far the most important one in understanding why Jay died’.

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