TRAGIC Jay Slater told pals on the phone he was thirsty and in “the
middle of nowhere” before falling into a ravine in Tenerife, his inquest heard yesterday.
The 19-year-old, who the previous night had left a resort bar to go
to an Airbnb on the other side of the Spanish island, added: “I can’t go back there.”
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His body was found almost a month later after a huge search.
Jay, best friend Lucy Law had and other mates had gone to the NRG rave music festival in June last year.
Giving evidence for the first time, Lucy said she and Jay, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, had partied at various night spots in Playa de
las Americas.
At one point he disappeared before she caught up with him in another bar.
She said: “He just found the situation funny.”
Asked about his state Lucy, giving evidence on an audiolink, said: “He was definitely on a buzz — I’d say he’d have definitely taken something.”
An earlier hearing at Preston coroner’s court had heard he had used drugs including cocaine, ecstasy and ketamine.
Lucy and friend Brandon Hodgson called it a night.
Unknown to them, Jay then decided to leave with two men in a car at 5am or 6am.
She was woken at 8.30am by a phone call from another friend,
Bradley Geoghegan, saying Jay had told him in a video call he
was “in the middle of nowhere” and had started what he feared would be a 14-hour walk back.
Records showed Lucy rang Jay at 8.52am. She said he told her
he was in the mountains and needed a drink.
He asked whether cacti were poisonous.
She told him to go back to where he had come from, but he said: “I can’t go back there.”
Bradley said Jay had seemed still “under the influence”.
Coroner Dr James Adeley asked: “Did you get the impression he was in any way threatened or fearful, or under duress
in a difficult situation?”
Bradley replied: “No. I think he probably got there and thought, ‘Why am I here?’, sobered up and decided to come back.”
Convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, speaking via videolink, said Jay asked to come with him and a third man called Steven Roccas, also known to police.
The coroner asked Qassim about Snapchat messages Jay
sent to friends about a Rolex being stolen.
Qassim said he saw a Romanian take a watch he thought was fake from an unwitting bystander and tried to sell it to them.
He added: “Jay didn’t steal no watch. I can say 100 per cent.”
The inquest verdict is due today.
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