Jay Slater’s final hours: the teen’s mum on what happened in Tenerife
Jay Slater, a 19-year-old on his first holiday abroad with friends, went missing after a big night out in Tenerife. He was found dead in a ravine 29 days later. His mother, Debbie, reveals what it was like to search for her son while conspiracies spread and trolls targeted her family
Jay Slater’s mum makes plea 15 months on from tragic teen’s death
The devastated mother of teenager Jay Slater – who died after disappearing following a night out whilst on holiday in Tenerife – is urging Mirror readers to support her campaign for ‘Jay’s Law. ‘.
Debbie Duncan, whose son Jay lost his life on June 17, 2024, maintains that conspiracy theories surrounding his death hindered the police investigation.
Misleading footage about him continues to appear online – despite a coroner determining “accidental death” at his July inquest.
With the support of her Labour MP, Sarah Smith, she is demanding stricter regulations to prevent “armchair detectives” from circulating false information online about missing individuals and, as occurred in Jay’s situation, their eventual deaths.
Debbie, 57, said: “It would be amazing if a new law was introduced and they called it ‘Jay’s Law’ to stop people spreading misinformation online.”, reports the Mirror.
“If it is too difficult to have a new law, then the existing rules need tightening. But I want to see it debated in Parliament.
“Content creators are still out there talking about Jay (online). They go back to the beginning and go over the same things – it’s shocking they are doing this.
“I am all for freedom of speech, but not when you are constantly misinforming and speaking badly about a family who are grieving.
“I need to fight for Jay’s name after everything we have been through. To continue making videos (and posting them online) more than 12 months on, going through every bit of detail over and over again is shocking. When will it stop?
Jay Slater disappeared while attending a music festival in Tenerife on June 17 -Credit:Family Handout/LBT Global/PA
“Social media is good for spreading awareness, but can also be the work of the devil.
“If I can save another family from going through the trauma we have had to endure, it will be worth it. “.
Debbie is speaking out ahead of a Candour Productions documentary for Channel 4 – The Disappearance of Jay Slater – which airs on Sunday September 28 at 9pm.
Along with Jay’s father, Warren, 59, and elder brother, Zak, 25, she granted TV producers extraordinary access to Jay’s story.
The family revealed deeply personal home videos, along with footage from Jay’s funeral service. Cameras were also permitted during his post-mortem examination.
Warren expresses his wish that, by displaying the T-shirt and trainers Jay was wearing on the night he perished, he will silence the conspiracy theories claiming their son remains alive.
Debbie explains: “I wanted this documentary to be made because I want to show Jay is a real person and not just the face of a story.
“I want to show everyone we are a normal family. Jay was a popular guy with a lot of friends and it’s been hard to watch it. I cried all the way through, but I hope it will finally shut down the armchair detectives. It’s been very well put together.”
Trainee bricklayer Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was holidaying in Tenerife with his mates Lucy Law and Bradley Geoghegan when he passed away. On his first holiday away from his parents, the evening he vanished, he had been enjoying the NRG music festival and Papagayo nightclub in Playa de Las Americas when he left with two men he’d encountered during his trip and travelled to an Airbnb in the remote village of Masca, roughly 20 miles distant.
He subsequently rang Lucy telling her he was disorientated in the mountainous terrain and contacted Bradley explaining he was attempting to walk home after missing a bus.
During his inquest in July, it emerged he had consumed drugs and alcohol during the evening and was confronted with a 14 hour trek back to his lodgings in Los Cristianos.
Coroner Dr James Adeley determined that Jay “died an accidental death” in an isolated ravine within the Rural de Teno national park, after plummeting in a “particularly dangerous area,” causing skull fractures and brain trauma.
His remains were discovered by a mountain rescue team on July 15, 2024, 29 days following his disappearance. However, from the instant his vanishing was reported, conspiracy theories regarding Jay’s fate began circulating online.
Some claimed he had been abducted by drug dealers and killed in the mountains after misplacing a bag of drugs, whilst others suggested he had orchestrated his own demise.
According to Debbie, following his funeral, some conspiracy theorists even questioned whether the correct body had been laid to rest.
Screengrab taken from PA Video of mourners arriving for the funeral of Jay Slater at Accrington Cemetery Chapel in Lancashire, after he died while on holiday in Tenerife in June. Picture date: Saturday August 10, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story FUNERAL Slater. Photo credit should read: Acacia Redding/PA Wire -Credit: 2024 PA Media, All Rights Reserved
Debbie says, tearfully: “What we have had to endure has really opened my eyes.
“It is not just us who are horrified by what has gone on – professional people are horrified too.”
Last week, she had a meeting with Hyndburn MP Sarah Smith at the House of Commons, who is working to gather Parliamentary backing for Jay’s Law.
Ms Smith tells The Mirror: ” Debbie has shown extraordinary strength and dignity through something no parent should ever have to endure.
“Since becoming her MP, I have been determined to confront the worst of the online abuse – raising concerns in Parliament, pressing platforms and tech companies to act, working with authorities at home and overseas, whilst doing everything possible to help protect the family’s privacy.
“What happens online does not stay online it spills into daily life and, in this case, denies a traumatised family the space to mourn.
“Jay’s family and friends deserve compassion, privacy and protection. I will keep using every avenue available to ensure that no grieving family is left to face this kind of abuse alone”.
Now, over 15 months after Jay’s passing, Debbie reveals that conspiracy content continues to surface online, despite her appeal for her son to be left to rest peacefully following the inquest.
The volume of content that appears on major video platforms when searching for ‘Jay Slater theories’ provides insight into the ordeal Debbie and her family have endured.
Whilst she has never tallied the number of videos, she explains: “If I did try to count them, it would take a long time.”
She also reveals she reported some of the content creators to major platforms like Facebook and YouTube for misinformation, but she claims none of the posts were removed.
“You just get an email to acknowledge the report,” she says.
She draws parallels between speculation about Jay and the disappearance of mum-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, on January 27, 2023 when conspiracy theories flourished even after her body was discovered in the River Wyre on February 19. An inquest determined she died from accidental drowning.
“It’s a similar thing,” Debbie says. “The armchair detectives think they are professionals. They think they are forensic scientists and didn’t believe it when Jay was found.
“They never went to Tenerife; they never saw the landscape and they interfered with the investigation by spreading misinformation.
“We brought his belongings back but we shouldn’t have to prove these things to people now.”
Still battling to accept her loss, Debbie has left her job as a finance assistant at a local school and has received private counselling sessions.
Jay Slater’s brother Zac, dad Warren and mountaineering mayor Shane Yerrell -Credit:Stan Kujawa
“I just need time to process everything and build myself back up,” she admits. “I have been struggling with my mental health.
“Some days, like this morning, I don’t want to get up.”
Wiping away tears, she continues: “I haven’t unpacked Jay’s case (from Tenerife), I can’t. It’s horrible. I know I will have to at some point because it’s been over a year now and I don’t want his clothes to go musty. I often just open it up, have a smell of his clothes and then close it back up again.
“I don’t think I have had time for it all to sink in and grieve with everything going on. But now I do have more time and when we look at his pictures, it really hits you.
“I have got a good network of friends and I am still in touch with a lot of Jay’s friends, which is nice.”
Despite parting ways with Warren when Jay, conceived through IVF treatment, was seven years old, the pair have united in their grief.
“We will never get over this,” adds Debbie, who reflects on Jay’s Tenerife trip: “I thought it was a chance for him to spread his wings.
“Before he left, I told him to have his wits about him and to be careful.
“I will always have questions as to why he went to the Airbnb. But there is only one person who can explain it and that’s Jay. I must accept this. He made some wrong decisions and there could have been so many different outcomes.”
Debbie remains a mum still mourning profoundly for her boy.
She says: “Jay and I were very close. We were like two peas in a pod and I miss him like mad. He was fun, funny and affectionate and we would often sit together in the evenings during the week after he came home from work watching TV and chatting.
“I remember speaking to him the night before (he disappeared) and I torture myself now that I didn’t call him that morning. I have just got to live with that and remember him for who he was.
“I am going to decorate his room eventually. I made that promise to him. I do go into his room regularly and talk to him.
“I know what Jay would have said to me. He would have said ‘mum, I am so sorry for what you are going through.’ That’s why I have to fight for his name.
“I hope this documentary will make everyone realise we do need to change the laws around misinformation on social media.”
‘It would be amazing to have a new law named after Jay. “”.
The Mirror reached out to Meta – the parent company of Facebook – TikTok and YouTube for their responses.
