MISSING man Jayden Penno-Tompsett and his Newcastle mates who travelled to Cairns for a New Year's Eve "bender" were part of a Facebook group called the Deadbeat Drug Camp, an inquest has heard.
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Friend Jed Wakefield told an inquest investigating Jayden's mysterious disapperance that members of the social media chat group met at a Lake Macquarie pub to discuss the boys' trip.
He said the plan was to source ecstasy, cocaine and ice for the trip and all but Jayden and his road trip companion Lucas Tattersall, flew to Cairns.
The court heard that Mr Tattersall was the only person who went on the trip that was not part of the Deadbeat Drug Camp Facebook group, and was not very well known to the men who had been friends for years.
They said the Facebook chat group was started when they were younger and the unusual name, that was a joke, stuck.
INQUEST:
"We were at a [Lake Macquarie] pub and Penno put his hand up to drive them [the drugs] up," Mr Wakefield said.
"It was probably safer, easier than getting them on a plane."
Mr Wakefield said he first met Mr Tattersall in Cairns when he arrived without Jayden and that he looked "fried" and "cooked".
"He looked pretty scattered, he looked like he'd been awake for a while," he said.
"He looked a bit nervous to be honest.'
Jayden vanished from the remote Far North Queensland town of Charters Towers on the morning of December 31, 2017.
Queensland Coroner Nerida Wilson is tasked with determining whether Jayden is dead, and if so, when and how he died.
The court heard on Tuesday that Jayden was travelling with more than $10,000 worth of drugs and he smoked half on the road trip to Charters Towers and lost the other half.
In the second day of revelations into Jayden's disappearance more than three years ago, Mr Wakefield said there was concern when Mr Tattersall arrived in Cairns without their friend.
He said the group was expecting cocaine, ecstasy and ice for the trip, but as far as he was aware Mr Tattersall only arrived with between 50 and 100 ecstasy pills, stamped with Homer Simpson, which he sold to the group.
As the days passed, Mr Wakefield said concern for Jayden's welfare grew and on January 3 some of the men went to Cairns police station, with Mr Tattersal, and reported Jayden missing.
Another Newcastle-based friend of Jayden's, Callam McDougall, said when members of the group spoke to Mr Tattersall as he was driving to Cairns and he told them Jayden has stormed off after the pair had a fight, they told him to turn around and find him.
Mr McDougall described the trip as a holiday and said it wasn't a "drug trip".
He said it wasn't "out of the ordinary" for Jayden to walk off alone after an argument.
"He [Lucas] said he waited around when Jayden walked off, when Jayden didn't come back he drove off," he said.
"When we spoke to him he hadn't actually looked. That's when we told him to turn around and go look."
Mr McDougall said when he heard Jayden had walked off he thought, 'Oh f..., Penno has done it again'.
"It didn't seem like it was that big of a deal at that stage," he said.
"It wasn't that out of the ordinary for Jayden."
But when Mr Tattersall arrived in Cairns without Jayden, Mr McDougall said he was annoyed.
"The moment I seen him I said, 'What the f...? Why are you here and Jayden is not here?'."
On his arrival in Cairns, Mr Tattersall told Jayden's friends the pair had an argument.
Mr McDougall said he "didn't want a bar" of Mr Tattersall.
"He said that they had a heated argument and Jayden wanted to fight and got angry and got out of the car and walked off...," he said.
"We knew he drove off and left our mate when he shouldn't have."
The court heard that the men continued to take day trips and party until January 2.
Speaking to Mr McDougall, Coroner Wilson questioned how long it took for the men to take Jayden's disappearance seriously..
"None of you came out of your drug and alcohol stupor until at least the 2nd, possibly the 3rd, then you were fit and well and able to make some decisions," she said.
The inquest continues.
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