Reader TTS

THE 19-YEAR-OLD SENT A MESSAGE TO HIS FRIEND WHERE HE BRAGGED ABOUT TAKING AN EXPENSIVE WATCH 17:50, 21 May 2025Updated 18:27, 21 May 2025 An inquest into the death of Jay Slater has heard

how the teen sent a message to his friend bragging about taking an expensive watch as they were boarding the plane to Tenerife. The 19-year-old was tragically found dead in a ravine in Rural

Parc de Teno, in Tenerife, on July 15 last year. The apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, had attended the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas. He travelled to an

Airbnb in the remote Masca village in north-west Tenerife in the early hours of June 17, following an NRG event. Jay then left the property, with the teenager intending to walk to the

apartment his friends were staying in at Los Cristianos. The month-long search for Jay sparked major media attention from the UK. He was eventually found in the Juan Lopez ravine, north of

Masca, close to where his phone last pinged. A post-mortem examination concluded he died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height. Preston Coroner's Court heard

this morning how Jay sent a message to a witness, Josh Forshaw, who met Jay and his friends as they queued to board the plane from Manchester to Tenerife, bragging about taking an expensive

watch strap. Article continues below The message read: "Ended up getting thrown out with two Mali kids, just took an AP (Audemars Piguet, another luxury watch brand) off somebody and

was on the way to sell it." Josh had shared contact details with Jay and met the group at the music festival. He told the inquest that Jay "seemed dead happy" and that he was

"off his head on drugs". Josh, also said Jay had drunk "10 to 15 vodka shots" that night and that Jay asked him to break an MDMA pill in half for him and Bradley. MDMA is

also known as ecstasy. Josh Forshaw told the hearing how Jay told him he was going to sell the watch strap for "10 quid". Josh claims that this is slang for £10,000, not £10. Josh

has also told the coroner that Jay sent him a picture showing "knives down his trousers". Josh has admitted he didn't inform Spanish police about this image. Following the

disappearance theories as to what happened to Jay took over the internet, including one that he had allegedly "taken a £12,000 Rolex" before he disappeared, with many people

claiming the teen had been "scared" after what he'd done. Mark Williams-Thomas, renowned for investigating several high-profile missing persons cases, previously indicated

that the teen must have been "feeling scared" upon departing the accommodation on that Monday morning. In a video recorded on July 2 last year and shared on X, previously known as

Twitter, the investigator said: "We've received information that would suggest that Jay left the rental property feeling scared and he would not return to the rental, even though

that would have been the most sensible course of action." Additionally, the ex-detective claimed Jay had 'posted a Snapchat saying that he'd taken a £12,000 Rolex from a

person'. The exact cause of death had not been confirmed, but a preliminary autopsy found it's likely Jay died following a catastrophic fall, with the pathologist harrowingly

finding he'd suffered several broken bones. Article continues below The inquest has been adjourned by the coroner at the request of his family so attempts can be made to locate two key

witnesses - Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas.