Having covered Jay Slater’s inquest from start to finish, I hope the many conspiracy theories which swirled around social media following his disappearance will finally be put to bed.
I witnessed the results of the painstaking care which British and Spanish police plus the coroner’s team put into examining every scrap of evidence about his final hours.
The three days of proceedings did not shy away from some of the most disturbing details – Jay ‘boasting’ about taking a high-end watch, or allegedly showing himself with kitchen knives in his waistband.
But inevitably some of the unanswered questions which have lingered since the tragic discovery of Jay’s body on July 15 last year could not be fully addressed.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, 19, pictured with his mother Debbie Duncan
Why did Jay reject his friend Lucy Law’s plea to return to the remote AirBnb from which he had set off on foot on the morning of June 17?
This was the AirBnb property Jay was staying at on the morning he vanished
Pictured is a stretch of the treacherous ravine close to where Jay’s body was found
Mail journalist James Tozer attended the inquest of Jay Slater
Among them is exactly why Jay rejected his friend Lucy Law’s plea to return to the remote AirBnb from which he had set off on foot on the morning of June 17, telling her: ‘I can’t go back there.’
At this point Jay was at least a 40-minute walk from the village, his mobile phone was dwindling to one per cent battery, he had no water and he could only give his location as ‘in the middle of the mountains’.
Giving evidence yesterday, Ms Law said that had there been any ‘conflict’ at the property, Jay would ‘probably’ have mentioned it ahead of having cut his leg on a cactus.
Today Lancashire coroner Dr James Adeley agreed, saying that neither in any of the witnesses’ accounts, nor in the phone messages which had been recovered, was there any evidence of Jay being in ‘fear’.
I watched as Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan, 56, nodded silently as Dr Adeley finished ruling out the more outlandish speculation and concluded that his death had been an accident.
It was in the formal surroundings of the courtroom that she finally received those answers after the gruelling weeks spent scouring Tenerife’s arid mountains for clues about their son’s disappearance.
Along with the rest of the large media contingent I was moved by the quiet dignity of Ms Duncan and Jay’s father Warren Slater, 59, both of whom are now in new relationships.
The pain they must have felt at hearing about his drug intake during the tragic trip to the Canary Islands – traces of cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine were found when his remains were tested – must have been intense.
At the original hearing on May 21, Ms Duncan’s emotions burst out as she begged the coroner to make renewed efforts to contact key witnesses who had not attended.
Yesterday her wishes were partly granted as Jay’s friends from the trip, Ms Law, 19, and Bradley Geoghegan, 20, gave evidence.
Pressing them on the drink and drug-fuelled three-day rave – a world he confessed was completely unfamiliar to him – the coroner intervened to ask Ms Law to explain herself when she said Jay had not been ‘mangled’.
Mr Slater went to an Airbnb cottage with drug dealer Ayub Qassim (pictured) and another man
A heartbreaking unseen photo of Jay Slater (right) shows the teenager smiling in the back seat of the car he was driven to a remote Airbnb in just hours before he plunged to his death. Steven Roccas is pictured sleeping in the front
Jay’s brother Zak Slater (right) arrives at Preston Coroner’s Court for the inquest on Thursday
Jay’s friend Brad Hargreaves (pictured) was among those to attend the inquest hearing on Thursday
There was rapt silence as the court heard remotely from Ayub Qassim, the convicted drug dealer who drove him to the remote Airbnb hours before his death.
Peppering his account with slang, and repeatedly addressing the coroner as ‘judge’, Mr Qassim denied knowledge of Jay having taken a watch that evening or being in possession of knives at any stage.
Finally today Jay’s ‘heartbroken’ mother had the opportunity to read a tribute to her ‘popular’ son.
Relatives were reduced to tears as she told of drawing comfort from how Jay’s story had ‘touched the hearts of a nation’.
But there were no visible signs of emotion beyond a slight nod of the head as the coroner concluded Jay’s death had been accidental, while Jay’s father sat with his arms folded before leaving without commenting.
