Jay Slater's friends from 'missing' Lucy Law, last phone call and desperate plea from mum

The inquest into the tragic death of Jay Slater, who went missing during a Spanish holiday last year, continues today.

Nineteen-year-old apprentice bricklayer Jay was discovered dead in a ravine within Tenerife's rugged Parque Rural de Teno on July 15, 2024, after an intense, long-month search. The teen from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had jetted off to the Spanish island inJune last year with his friends Lucy Law, Brad Hargreaves and Brandon Hodgson for the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas.

After leaving the event, in the early hours of June 17, Jay travelled with two men to an Airbnb in the desolate national park area, some 22 miles from the popular tourist spot of Los Christianos, where he, Lucy and Brad had been staying. It was then that Jay's holiday abroad with pals, his first and, sadly, last, took a terrible turn.

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An inquest into the teenager's death began in May this year, and in the run-up, the coroner's court is understood to have attempted to contact Jay's friends. However, it was heard that Bradley Geoghegan, Brandon Hodgson and Lucy Law were unable to attend the inquest as they were not in the UK.

Senior Coroner Dr James Adley stated at the time that Lucy and Brad "cannot be located". Dr Adley 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."

In May, the inquest heard that officers had tried to serve a witness summons on Lucy but were unable to trace her whereabouts at the time. Coroner's officer Alice Swarbrick revealed that Lucy was believed to be in Tenerife, where she is said to run a business selling tanning products.

The hearing was also informed that Bradley was thought to have been away on a holiday at the time of the May inquest, which had been arranged last October. Brandon was reported to be "liasing with police", though he was similarly abroad when the initial inquest occurred.

The inquest in May was halted after Jay's mum, Debbie Duncan, made a desperate plea to have her son's friends in attendance. Ms Duncan said 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."

Coroner Dr Adeley said efforts would be made to find the witnesses in a bid to give Ms Duncan the "answers you want". It remains unclear whether Jay's friends will attend as the inquest resumed on July 23 and continues today at Preston Crown Court.

Lucy, Brad and Brandon had previously described how they spoke with Jay as he tried to walk back to their accommodation from the isolated Airbnb, a journey that would have taken him 11 hours on foot. Sadly, he never made it.

At 8.15am, Lucy received a phone call from Jay, who told her he was in "the middle of nowhere" and dehydrated, with just one per cent of his phone battery remaining. After missing his bus, the apprentice bricklayer explained to Lucy that he was attempting to make his way back using a Maps app. It was then that the call cut out suddenly, with his battery depleting completely at 8:50 a.m.

Lucy told the Manchester Evening News:"He's gone on a night out, he's gone to a friend's house, someone that he has met on holiday. One of the people he has met has hired a car out of here, so he's driven them back to his apartment, and Jay has gone there, not realising how far away it is.

"In the morning, he's set off walking, using his Maps on his phone and ended up in the middle of mountains with nothing around." Lucy later told Sky News that Jay had "cut his leg on a cactus" as he attempted to walk along a remote path.

On June 28, just 48 hours before Spanish authorities halted their search, Brad appeared on This Morning and opened up about his last conversation with Jay, who had promised to return his video call after cutting it short because "someone else was ringing him".

Visibly moved while reminiscing about Jay's "zest for life", Brad revealed that initially, Jay wasn't concerned about rejoining his mates. He revealed that he could hear Jay's feet sliding on the rocks, indicating that he "went off the road". He explained: "That's how I knew he went off the road because, you know when you walk on gravel, or whatever it is, you can... you know what I mean, stones."

Brad continued: "He was on the phone walking down a road and he'd gone over a little bit - not a big drop - but a tiny little drop and he was going down, and he said 'I'll ring ya back, I'll ring ya back' because I think someone else was ringing him. If he was thinking like me, he would have gone back up and started walking on the path again… He wouldn't have gone all that way down there."

When asked about his own concerns at that point, Brad replied: "Not at the time because we were both laughing and he said, 'Look where I am' and I was like, 'I've just come out of a festival' and he didn't seem concerned on the phone until we knew how far away he was. I said, 'Put your location on and he said 'a 15 minute drive or a 14 hour walk, I don't know if it's accurate or not' and I said, 'If it's only a 15 minute drive, get a taxi'."

Brandon had also been in touch with Jay before his disappearance and told investigator Mark Williams-Thomas that he received a text from the teen saying,"I've started walking". Brandon said: "He was laughing at first, then he sent me his location. On the phone he said to me 'I’ve been walking for half an hour', I told him to go back and he said, 'I’ve already been walking for half an hour, I’m not going back, I don’t want to go back, I just want to go home'."

A post-mortem examination determined Jay had died of traumatic head injuries consistent with a fall from height, with a CT scan showing there was "a severe fracture of the head".

After the heart-wrenching news of Jay's death, Brad paid tribute on social media. He wrote: "No words. Nothing be the same without you. Rest easy brother love you always." Brad also posted a public story with another picture of the two of them, along with broken heart emojis.

Lucy also shared a social media post to honour their friend Jay. It read: "Honestly lost for words. Always the happiest and most smiley person in the room, you was one of a kind Jay and you'll be missed more than you know. I'm sure you'll 'have your dancing shoes polished and ready' waiting for us all. We all love you buddy. Fly high."