Jay Slater’s death ruled as accidental as mother declares teenager ‘touched hearts of a nation’: Live updates

The coroner has ruled Jay Slater’s death was accidental.

• 8am – Jay calls Bradley Geoghegan and was ‘slurring his words’
• 8.15am – A woman known as Ophelia drove away from the village and saw Jay walking ‘at a brisk pace’ around a 40 minute walk from the Airbnb
• 8.21am – Jay called Brandon Hodgson who said his friend was ‘laughing and joking’ and told him he was ‘leaving the road’.
• 8.24am – Jay called Mr Geoghegan who said Jay was walking along a road and told him he was going back to the apartment ‘to start drinking again’.
• 8.35am – Lucy Law sent Jay a message telling him to go back before it got ‘boiling’
• 8.43am – The last mobile phone mast contact at which time Jay’s handset was fast running out of battery
• 8.50am – In a call from Jay to Ms Law to 8.50am he said it was down to 1%.

The coroner has now gone into detail about the final hour before Jay Slater disappeared.

He said Jay called Bradley Geoghegan at around 8am on June 17 and was ‘slurring his words’ but not ‘distressed or angry’, according to Mr Forshaw’s evidence.

His friends encouraged him to get a taxi back to the apartment in Los Cristianos but Jay said he had no money on him.

He recounted statements given by villagers who recalled Jay asking when there was a bus to Los Cristianos.

They said it would not be until 10am and there was no taxi service.

Another, a Mrs Hernandez who was known as Ophelia, said she tried to convey in Spanish that there was no bus before 10am.

Jay then told Mr Qassim he was leaving for Los Cristianos wrongly believing the bus came past every 10 minutes.

He recounted Mr Qassim’s evidence that he was ‘here if he needed him’.

The coroner said he had concluded that Jay was still under the influence of cocaine and ecstasy at that time which would have affected his judgement.

Dr Adeley said a picture taken by Jay Slater with kitchen knives ‘in case it kicked off’ was not a ‘credible threat’ and likely to be ‘more social media boasting’.

Explaining the events that took plade when Jay visited an Airbnb rented by two men, Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas, Dr Adeley said the teenager was disturbed by the doorbell buzzing after a local asked Mr Qassim to move his car.

The coroner highlighted an earlier account by his friend Josh Forshaw who said Jay sent him a now-lost Snapchat showing kitchen knives in his trousers captioned ‘in case it kicked off’.

The coroner commented that Mr Forshaw did not ask further questions and did not mention the message when he saw Mr Geoghegan shortly afterwards.

Additionally Jay mentioned no threats or altercation in subsequent messages nor did any of his friends detect that he was in ‘danger’.

‘For all these reasons I do not consider this report of an image of Jay with knives is a credible threat and is more likely to be more social media boasting,’ the coroner said.

One of the Snapchat messages posted by Jay Slater

Dr Adeley has said he considers claims Jay Slater told an expensive watch as irrelevant, adding that his treating his Snapchat messages as fact would be ‘naive in the extreme’.

Setting out the events and evidence heard in court yesterday, Dr Adeley said Ayub Qassim testified Jay definitely didn’t steal a watch and he never saw one.

But the court heard Jay sent a Snapchat message saying he had ‘just taken a 12k Rolly’ and was ‘off to get 10 quid’ for it, which could have meant £10,000.

The coroner recounted Mr Qassim’s evidence that Jay had been ‘bigging himself up’.

Dr Adeley said: ‘It would be naive in the extreme to treat these messages as fact.’

He said he considered the watch to be irrelevant to subsequent events’ saying Jay thereafter expressed no ‘stress or fear’.

Dr Adeley said Jay’s fingerprints were double-checked when his remains were repatriated.

In relation to his cause of death, he said experienced pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said Jay had no signs of defensive injuries or other indication of third party involvement in his death.

Cuts on his body were likely to be caused by vegetation in the ravine where he was found, the coroner said.

Two skull fractures were found as well as multiple fractures to the pelvis.

Dr Shepherd concluded these were consistent with a fall causing ‘non survivable’ head injuries and his death was probably ‘instantaneous’.

Jay’s mother nodded as the coroner said he hoped it would be ‘some consolation to his family’ that her son would not have been aware of what had happened.

Liver samples confirmed that in a day or so before his death Jay had taken MDMA, cocaine and alcohols although the levels could not be ascertained.

Toxicological analysis of muscle and hair carried out in Spain additionally detected he had used ketamine ‘both shortly before his death and over a longer period’, the coroner said.

Jay Slater pictured with his mother Debbie Duncan and brother Zak

The second day of the Jay Slater inquest is now underway at Preston Coroner’s Court.

Delivering a tribute to her son Jay, his mother Debbie Duncan said:

Jay had a wonderful life full of fun and was always a joy to be around. He was always a popular boy and had many many friends From an early age he was always the life and soul wherever he went.’

She said he secured a bricklaying apprenticeship aged 16. He had so many plans and a bright future ahead of him. Not in a million years did we predict what was going to unfold.

He loved to go to festivals and made new friends wherever he went. He was very loved and our hearts are broken. Our lives will never be the same without Jay in .

A loving son, brother, grandson…He may just have been a story for the last 13 months, a story full of untruths. He did touch the hearts of a nation.

Relatives were seen dabbing their eyes as the tribute was read to the court.

Jay’s parents Debbie and Warren have now entered the courtroom along with his brother Zak, accompanied by relatives and other supporters.

A framed portrait of Jay is again propped up at the front of the public benches.

Snapchat posts from Jay Slater’s account were played at the inquest yesterday including a video on the morning he went missing.

The clip shows a scene of large mountains and a driveway as the sun rises.

The video was taken from the steps of the Airbnb Jay had visited. In another, a blanket can be seen on Jay as he smokes a cigarette.

Watch the Snapchat posts below:

Debbie Duncan arriving at Preston Coroner’s Court

Jay Slater’s mother Debbie Duncan, 56, has arrived at Preston Coroner’s Court for the final day of her son’s inquest, along with her elder son Zak, 25.

Later this morning coroner Dr James Adeley is expected to summarise the evidence which the court has heard about Jay’s movements in the run-up to his death on June 17 last year and give his conclusion.

Jay Slater was holidaying on the Spanish island and had been to the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on June 16 last year.

But he vanished the next morning after going with two men to an Airbnb in a village in the mountains miles from his holiday apartment.

A huge search was launched after he was reported missing on June 17, and his body was found by a mountain rescue team almost a month later in a steep and inaccessible area, near the village of Masca on July 15.

Watch a timeline of his disappearance below:

Coroner Dr James Adeley has heard all the evidence yesterday and is expected to sum it up this morning before delivering his conclusions.

Yesterday, he said he was considering a possible short form conclusion in the case.

It means he may conclude Jay’s death was caused by natural causes, accident or misadventure among others.

As a reminder, a post-mortem found that Jay died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height. His death would have been instantaneous.

Forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who examined Mr Slater’s body after its repatriation to the UK, said at May’s inquest that injuries including severe skull and pelvis fractures.

In case you missed the first day at Preston Coroner’s Court, here’s a full report from James Tozer on what evidence was heard in court.

Here are just some of the key lines below:

• Jay’s friend Lucy Law recalled their final phone call with and revealed the moment she ‘started panicking’ when he told her he was ‘in the middle of mountains’
• Drug dealer Ayub Qassim said Jay did not steal a watch and may have been ‘boasting’ in Snapchat messages when he said he would try and sell it for £10,000
• Mr Qassim said he also tried to stop Jay leaving his Airbnb before he vanished after the teenager insisted on catching a bus to return to his own apartment
• Friends say Jay Slater wasn’t threatened or in conflict at any point of the holiday and took partying ‘a bit too far’
• Two witnesses the coroner summoned to give evidence could not be traced including Brandon Hodgson, a friend of Jay’s, and Steven Roccas who rented the Airbnb with Mr Qassim
• Spanish authorities believe Jay Slater may have entered a ravine to get to the beach
• Friend Bradley Geoghegan reveals his last conversation with Jay Slater was the teenager asking if any alcohol was at their apartment

Read James Tozer’s report here:

Good morning and welcome to our live coverage on the second day of the Jay Slater inquest at Preston Coroner’s Court.

Coroner Dr James Adeley is expected to conclude how Jay died in Tenerife last summer after he vanished while on holiday.

Following his disappearance, which sparked a viral frenzy among conspiracy theorists, Jay’s body was discovered in mountainous terrain 29 days later.

An inquest into his death resumed on Thursday after it was adjourned in May so key witnesses could be traced.

Yesterday, a number of them spoke in person and remotely at Preston Coroner’s Court although two men did not take part in the proceedings after attempts to contact them.

Stick with us for the latest updates from the inquest with James Tozer reporting from Preston Coroner’s Court and Jamie Bullen in London.