A holiday with friends turned into a nightmare for teenager Jay Slater after he fell 25 metres down a ravine while attempting to walk back to his holiday villa, an inquest has heard.
Mr Slater, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was visiting the Spanish island of Tenerife and had been to the NRG music festival with friends at the Papagayo nightclub in the resort of Playa de las Americas on 16 June last year when he went missing.
After the event, he had gone with two men to an Airbnb in Masca, a village in the mountains miles from his holiday apartment in Los Cristianos, before deciding that he wanted to go home.
The 19-year-old had later told his friends he was “in the middle of the mountains” and in need of a drink, as he attempted a 14-hour walk home the morning after taking drugs and alcohol on a night out, Preston Coroner’s Court has heard.
The teenager made contact with his friends several times on his phone before it ran out of battery, but failed to identify where he was in the mountains.
What ensued after Mr Slater failed to return to Los Cristianos was a nearly month-long search for the teenager. It would take 29 days to find his body.
On 15 July, his body was found above a dry stream bed. After his bag was found with his passport some 15 to 20 metres above him, it was presumed he had fallen.
The Spanish authorities said they believed Mr Slater could have veered off the road and into the dangerous ravine after seeing the sea and believing he could reach a beach to get help.
Concluding a two-day inquest into his death, Dr James Adeley, senior coroner for Lancashire and Blackburn with Darwen, said: “Jay fell at a particularly dangerous area in difficult terrain.
“He fell approximately 20 to 25 metres, suffering skull fractures and brain trauma from which he would have died instantaneously. Jay Dean Slater died an accidental death.
“This is a tragic death of a young man.”
Dr Adeley said the evidence showed there was no one else involved in the death and no evidence to suggest Mr Slater had been threatened, assaulted, was under duress or in fear for his safety.
The coroner told Mr Slater’s family sat in court that he hoped the “examination of facts rather than conjecture” during the hearing had been some consolation to them.
Mr Slater’s tearful mother, Debbie Duncan, had earlier given a tribute to her son at the hearing on Friday.
“He was very loved and our hearts are broken,” Ms Duncan said: “Our lives will never be the same without Jay in it.”
Earlier, the inquest heard from his friends and the last people to speak to him on the morning he disappeared.
Bradley Geoghegan, on holiday with Mr Slater said his friend had taken ecstasy pills, and possibly ketamine, along with cocaine and alcohol, on the night out before he disappeared.
The next morning, Mr Geoghegan said he got a video call from Mr Slater, who was walking along a road and was still “under the influence”, the inquest heard.
Mr Geoghegan said: “I said put your maps on to see how far you were. It was like a 14-hour walk or an hour drive. I said, ‘Get a taxi back’, then he just goes, ‘I will ring you back’.”
Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said his post-mortem examination gave the cause of death as head injuries, and Mr Slater’s body showed no evidence of restraint or assault, with the pattern of injuries consistent with a fall from a height.
Marieke Krans, from Dutch rescue charity Signi Zoekhonden – which uses dogs, helped in the search.
She said the area where the body was found was about a three-and-a-half-hour walk from the Airbnb and was “really steep, really dangerous”, and it was “easy” to lose your footing.
