Jay Slater's mother fights back tears as online trolls target family amid Tenerife disappearance

LONDON — Debbie Duncan, 57, fought back tears on BBC Breakfast as she revealed online trolls accused her of murdering her own son after Jay Slater went missing during a holiday in Tenerife last June.

Jay, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, vanished while holidaying with two friends. His body was found about four weeks later in a remote area near Masca. An inquest earlier this year found that he died on June 17, 2024, while making his way home across mountainous terrain, with injuries consistent with a heavy fall from height. Home Office pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd said the post-mortem identified head injuries as the cause of death, and there was no evidence of restraint or assault. The family said they were overwhelmed by online misinformation that dragged relatives into the debate and included false claims about murder and conspiracies.

Ahead of a Channel 4 documentary about the case, The Disappearance of Jay Slater, scheduled to air on Sunday, September 28 at 9 p.m., the family hope the program will help put an end to the false theories. Duncan described the toll of the online abuse, including sustained anxiety and periods of breakdown, as they tried to hold on to reality.

She urged tighter online laws to curb misinformation in sensitive cases, backing a proposed Jay's law with the support of her local Labour MP Sarah Smith.

Jay went missing after a night out in Playa de Las Americas, attending the NRG music festival and Papagayo nightclub before getting into a car with two men he had met on holiday. The group drove to an Airbnb in the village of Masca, about 20 miles away. After leaving the property, Jay phoned a friend to say he was lost in the mountains and later told another friend that he was trekking home after missing a bus. When he failed to return, a missing persons inquiry followed. In the days and weeks that followed, dozens of conspiracy theories circulated online, including claims of kidnapping, murder in the mountains, or that Jay had staged his own death.

Ms Duncan said the impact on the family has been profound. She has left her job as a finance assistant at a local school and has sought private counselling; she has described keeping Jay's Tenerife case nearby, sometimes opening the case to smell his clothes before returning it to storage. Jay's father, Warren Slater, 59, and older brother, Zak Slater, 25, have supported the family's decision to speak publicly and have allowed access to private home footage and coverage from Jay's funeral as part of the documentary process. Cameras were even allowed into his post-mortem as part of the Channel 4 project.

The documentary, produced by Candour Productions, is designed to address the online feed of misinformation surrounding Jay Slater's disappearance and death. It airs as the family continues to press for accountability and a clearer public understanding of what happened during the Tenerife holiday. The Slater family hopes the program will help put an end to the cruel conjecture that has followed them since Jay went missing and after his body was found.