It was a day that should have provided closure for a family still consumed by grief. But instead, yesterday's inquest into the death of British teenager Jay Slater in Tenerife last year quickly descended into farce.

For no sooner had Jay's family filed into Preston Coroner's Court, than it emerged not a single one of the key witnesses to their son's final days was to be present.

'We can't find them, they have stopped responding to phone calls,' revealed senior coroner Dr James Adeley of the five key witnesses: Jay's holiday companions Lucy Law, Brandon Hodgson and Bradley Geoghegan (also known as Bradley Hargreaves); and the two men he stayed with the night before his disappearance, Ayub Qassim and Steven Roccas.

On two separate occasions, Jay's mother, 55-year-old Debbie Duncan, pleaded desperately with the coroner to bring the witnesses before the inquest. 'We want these people in front of us,' she begged, breaking down in tears: 'My son went on holiday and didn't come back so there are questions we need to ask. Please.'

The coroner duly announced shortly after 3.30pm that the inquest would be delayed so that further attempts could be made to bring forward the absent five - stressing that multiple attempts to locate the witnesses had been made, albeit unsuccessfully, including via the police.

Whereupon farce became cruel pantomime as the family of Lucy Law announced that, so far from disappearing as had been claimed, she was once again on holiday on the very island where Jay had died - and was unaware that they wanted her to give evidence.

'We had no idea Jay's inquest was even being held today,' said her stepfather Andy Davis, speaking at the family home in Burnley. 'The police have only just been round today to say that she was due to give evidence. But it's the first time we knew of it.'

This inquest had taken months of preparation. Yet for now at least - it is already over. And the questions millions of people have waited so long for remain unanswered.

Lucy Law, Jay's friend with whom he went to Tenerife for the festival last year

Having spent just shy of a month reporting on the case from Tenerife last year - and feeling first-hand the pressure to find answers - I am shocked and appalled that the British inquest into Jay's death could have been quite so poorly planned.

In June last year, 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer Jay Slater, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, travelled to Tenerife where he stayed in a resort hotel near the popular Playa de Las Americas party strip with friends Lucy Law and Bradley Hargreaves.

The trio had been attending the New Rave Generation music festival on the Spanish island when Slater - on the final night of festivities - met Qassim and Roccas. For reasons that remain unclear, Slater got into the back of the pair's Seat Leon at 5am and travelled 25 miles from the Papagayo nightclub to the Casa Abuela Tina Airbnb in the northern village of Masca, a sleepy spot nestled in the remote mountains.

The following morning, Slater unfathomably attempted to make the 10-mile walk back to his hotel while in a state of extreme dehydration and with drugs in his system.

Having walked across that same unforgiving terrain on numerous occasions myself while trying to reimagine Jay's journey, I can assure you it is hard enough to navigate when sober.

Bradley Hargreaves, one of Jay Slater's best friends, was also on the trip

Ayub Qassim, one of the men Jay stayed with the night before his disappearance

At 8.30am, Slater made a call to Lucy Law in which he revealed his phone was on one per cent, he was dehydrated and was lost.

Sadly, Slater was never heard from again. He was declared missing at 9.04am the same morning. It would take Spanish police a month to find his body in the Juan Lopez ravine - by that time it was barely recognisable as the young bricklayer from Lancashire. The cause of death was ruled to be head trauma consistent with a fall from a height.

Despite the premature closure of yesterday's inquest, there were a number of revelations made which help to piece together a somewhat better picture of Slater's final hours.

Firstly, it was confirmed that Slater's body contained traces of the drugs cocaine, ketamine and ecstasy.

Secondly, Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd confirmed that there appeared to be no signs of a struggle: 'Nothing to suggest an assault, gripping, holding, nothing of that sort,' he told the inquest, likely ruling out previous conspiracies of possible foul play.

Debbie Duncan, who asked witnesses to come forward, with her son Jay

Jay with his close friend Lucy, who is currently thought to be in Tenerife

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

Evidence was also provided by Joshua Forshaw, who had met Jay at the NRG music festival. Forshaw told the inquest that Slater had been 'thrown out' of the rave at the Papagayo nightclub and had been trying to sell a luxury watch for £10,000. It is unclear, however, if these two things relate in any way to Jay's death or his decision to travel up into the mountains.

The truth is that for all these piecemeal revelations and rumours, no true closure will be possible until the five people who were with Jay in the hours and days before his death answer the questions that so desperately need asking.

It is thought that Lucy Law is currently in Tenerife, while Brad Hargreaves revealed he is on a holiday he booked last October. The whereabouts of the other three witnesses remains a mystery.

'When drugs are involved in a death,' revealed coroner Dr Adeley talking from professional experience, 'the witnesses are less than forthcoming and do not wish to speak to the authorities.'

That may well be the case. But these five absent witnesses would do well to remember that until they are brave enough to face the music, the Slater family will be left in cruel and agonising suspension.