Jay Slater inquest latest: Hearing to resume after mother tearfully asked for more time

Snapchat videos sent while walking along main road after staying with two men

The coroner is now asking Bradley Geoghegan about video messages he received from Jay Slater before his disappearance.

While he was staying with Ayoub Qassim and Stephen Roccus, he sent messages over Snapchat - an app that deletes messages automatically once read.

In one of the messages, he shared a picture of a bed they had made up for him.

Geoghegan says he did not seem to be worried or upset, with messages sent from around 5.30am.

The coroner also asked about a video sent from Jay about a watch.

Geoghegan is asked about the Snapchat message, and replies that it was "something about a watch", but that he "can't remember what else".

Slater later sent a video message while he was walking along a main road.

He seemed to be "in a better way" than when Geoghegan saw him the night before.

The coroner asks if mixing drugs and alcohol makes the user think more carefully.

Geoghegan says it's likely to make you more impulsive.

Asked if Slater appeared under duress in any of his messages, Geoghegan says "no".

Slater took drugs at club before going missing, inquest hears

School friend Bradley Geoghegan says that the day before Jay Slater went missing, they went out in Tenerife with Brandon Hodgson and Lucy Law.

At Papagayo nightclub at around 10pm, Geoghegan recalls Hodgson telling him Slater was kicked out by security for drinking too much.

The inquest hears Geoghegan went outside to meet Jay, describing him as "not as bad as he were inside". 

"He were in a better state".

Asked if he knows what drugs Slater took, Geoghegan says: "Maybe ecstasy pills."

He says he believes Slater also took cocaine and ketamine on the holiday.

Geoghegan says he went back into the club, before heading to Sugar Reef at 4am with Slater and leaving for his apartment between 5am and 6am.

Schoolfriend describes 'good vibe' on first night in Tenerife - and explains rave to coroner

The first witness up is Bradley Geoghegan, a schoolfriend who travelled with Jay Slater to Tenerife, alongside another friend, Lucy Law.

He says they landed at 2am on 13 June last year, and quickly met up with their friend, Brandon Hodgson, who was living on the Spanish island, and who introduced them to two other men.

Geoghegan was asked by the coroner if it was a "good vibe" - and he says they all "got on".

They were out until around 6am, he says, with the NRG music festival beginning later that night (14 June).

While they were out, they met Ayoub Qassim and Stephen Roccus.

The coroner, Dr James Adeley, is asking how drink impacts their behaviour, reminding him to bear in mind he has not been to a rave.

"We don't have a common frame of reference," the coroner says, asking if drinking and dancing is typical at these type of parties.

Geoghegan agrees.

Inquest hearing under way

Inquest proceedings into the death of Jay Slater have just resumed at Preston Coroner's Court.

As we've been explaining, coroner Dr James Adeley adjourned the inquest when it opened in May to allow more time to trace witnesses, after requests from Slater's mother.

Family brought into court as inquest prepares to resume shortly

We're expecting the hearing to begin soon, with Jay Slater's family just being brought into the courtroom.

His mother, father and brother are all present.

Hundreds gathered for Jay Slater's funeral

About 500 people attended a funeral service held for Jay Slater last August.

Friends and family of the 19-year-old were pictured following a horse-led hearse as it arrived at the chapel at Accrington Crematorium.

At the wishes of the family, most wore the colour blue.

His colleagues from PH Build Group, where he was an apprentice bricklayer, wore T-shirts reading "forever 19" on the front.

Meanwhile, a crowd of mourners watched the ceremony outside under umbrellas as a big screen was put up especially for the service.

Cause of death and last messages: What we found out at first inquest hearing

Jay Slater's family first gathered for his inquest at Preston Coroner's Court on 21 May.

Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said Slater's injuries were "entirely consistent" with a fall from a great height and gave an official cause of death as a head injury.

"The injuries were so severe I have no doubt he would have been instantly unconscious from the moment of that blow to the head. Death could well have been instant, the injury was so severe," Shepherd said.

He added there was no suggestion the teenager had been assaulted or restrained.

Toxicology expert Dr Stephanie Martin said traces of MDMA and MDA, commonly known as ecstasy, along with cocaine and alcohol, were also found in Slater's body.

Detective Chief Inspector Rachel Higson, from Lancashire Constabulary, told the court that messages from Slater's friends advising him to go home were found on his phone.

DCI Higson said at 8.35am on 17 June 2024, his friend Lucy Law sent him a message saying: "Before it gets boiling get back to wherever you have come from."

At 8.50am, there was the last known outgoing communication from Slater's phone - a 22-second call from him to Law, in which he is believed to have said he had cut his leg on a cactus, he was lost in the mountains and his phone battery was on 1%.

'Questions we need to ask': Why Jay Slater's inquest was pushed back

The inquest into Jay Slater's death began two months ago, but was adjourned by the coroner after hearing his mother's pleas.

Debbie Duncan was at that hearing, along with the teenager's stepfather and other family members.

Some of his friends and witnesses who saw him prior to his death, however, were not - which is why Duncan told Preston Coroner's Court she still has questions.

The hearing, which had been scheduled to last a day, was told extensive efforts were made to reach several witnesses in contact with Slater before he disappeared.

Among those who didn't appear were friends Bradley Geoghegan, Brandon Hodgson and Lucy Law, who were out with him at a music festival in Tenerife.

The two men who were staying at the Airbnb property Slater travelled to before his disappearance - Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas - were also not traced, despite summonses being issued.

Duncan told the court in May that she wanted "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".

She added: "How can we ever get any understanding?

"There's things we want to question."

Coroner Dr James Adeley therefore agreed to adjourn the hearing.

The key dates and events in Jay Slater's disappearance

The local civil guard said a year ago this month that they had found the "lifeless body of a young man after 29 days of constant search".

It took them a day to confirm the body was that of 19-year-old Jay Slater.

That brought a month of uncertainty to an end, but his family's pain was only just beginning.

Here's a reminder of what happened over the course of those 29 days after his disappearance - which eventually led search teams to a ravine near where his phone last emitted a ping.

-SKY NEWS