It has been two years since Jay Slater tragically lost his life in a remote part of Tenerife, and the landscape where he disappeared remains as harsh as ever. The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire vanished on his first overseas holiday with friends. After waking up in an Airbnb following a night out, he embarked on a punishing 11-hour hike back to his own lodgings after missing the local bus.
Just before his phone battery ran out, he alerted friends that he was parched and completely lost. For four weeks, Spanish police scoured the depths of the Parque Rural de Teno nature reserve in Tenerife, near where Jay's phone last sent a signal. His mother Debbie Duncan, father Warren Slater, and older brother Zak all joined the frantic search for their 'beautiful son', but sadly it was too late.
After mountain rescue teams sifted through thick undergrowth and steep gorges in blistering heat, Spanish police confirmed that a young man's body had been found in a ravine near a phone mast, along with Jay's clothes and belongings. Fingerprints later verified it was Jay as the body was 'very deteriorated'. An inquest determined that the teenager sustained a 'heavy fall from height', with the consequences proving instantly fatal.
Toxicology examinations revealed that Jay had consumed cocaine, MDMA, and alcohol before his death. Spanish authorities also discovered he had taken ketamine, both immediately prior to his death and over an extended timeframe. Former Detective Mark Williams-Thomas, who assisted Jay's family, explained the teenager's tragic final trek: 'Jay had no experience or knowledge of how rough that terrain was going to be. He probably started to realise as he set off. But don't forget he had been strongly under the influence of both drugs and alcohol. And so his decision-making process was impaired. That terrain there is lethal as we found out. One minute you're on a steady piece of ground, the next there's a plunging cliff.'
Jay was unaware that the precise location he was traversing is so perilous that even professionals consider it hazardous territory. Mark reveals that the only chance of making it home was to follow the road, but even that was incredibly dangerous and lengthy. 'Some of those areas are only approachable with people with considerable experience in mountaineering,' he said, and would demand specialist equipment, including ropes. In his opinion, these aren't paths anyone should tackle alone.
With only the mobile mast signal as a lead, an extensive search operation commenced, though the harsh terrain proved far from simple to scour. Aircraft, drones, and massive teams of volunteers and officials collaborated, with some needing to slash through dense foliage using machetes. 'The experts up there were very coordinated,' Mark explained regarding the rescue mission. 'They were doing a strategical search up there, working from his last point of where his signal went down. But so many of these people were working on the basis that hopefully he's made it through, so checking outbuildings, checking areas where potentially he could be sheltering. It was boiling hot. In order to find him as they did, they had to themselves negotiate really dangerous cliff edges to be able to get down to him.'
Eventually his body was found in the Juan Lopez Ravine, a location even seasoned hikers would steer clear of, with near-vertical drops. He had sustained devastating head injuries and most likely perished almost immediately from a fall. His death was deemed accidental.
