Jay Slater’s mum Debbie Duncan returns to Tenerife mountains to hunt closure for tragic son

Teenager Jay Slater’s mum has returned to the mountainous Tenerife spot where her son had a fatal fall to seek closure, after her devastating loss. Debbie Duncan, 58, went to the Spanish holiday island with pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who examined Jay’s body when it was returned to the UK.

He told campaigner Debbie that her son would have felt no pain from the moment he suffered a catastrophic head injury, which may have been instantly fatal. Debbie says: “In those last moments Jay must have been so scared, and that breaks my heart. Nothing will bring Jay back, but to know he didn’t suffer, there is some peace in that.”

Debbie, who has experienced relentless trolling since Jay, 19, went missing on 17 June, 2024, can be seen retracing his last steps with Dr Shepherd in the new series of Channel 5’s Cause of Death, on Wednesday 30 September. His disappearance after a night out during his first ever foreign holiday sparked a 29 day search, before his body was discovered on 15 July, 2024. He’d suffered a fatal fall on the way back to his accommodation after a night out.

Sadly, finding the apprentice bricklayer’s body did nothing to stem the tide of outlandish conspiracy theories about him, which still persist.

Debbie, of Oswaldwistle, Lancashire, says: “Still the conspiracy theories came. Gangs, drugs, criminal masterminds, you name it. He was just a teenager trying to get back to his accommodation after a night out. But, over two years on, people are making videos about it every day – and it’s so hurtful.”

Dr Shepherd – who was an expert witness after the death of Princess Diana and worked on both 9/11 and the Bali bombings, was the last person to see Jay’s body, once it was returned to the UK by the Spanish authorities. He says: “In a case like this, the most important people are the relatives. They’re the ones that have to understand. They’re the ones that are traumatised.

“I came onto the case because, if a body is returned to the United Kingdom having died overseas, the coroner here has to investigate the death as well.”

The Spanish authorities concluded that Jay’s death was as a result of an accidental fall from a height, with no third-party involvement. Richard says: “Rumours were swirling around about what happened to Jay. My examination then – who he was, what injuries did he have? Did it fit with him being attacked? No, it didn’t. Did it fit with him having fallen down a hillside? Yes, it did.”

After a night out in Playa de las Américas, Jay had travelled around 22 miles to Masca, but then decided to leave and make his way back to Los Cristianos, where he was staying, about 40 miles away.

Debbie, who is also mum to 26-year-old Zak, says: “At 8.50am he spoke to his friend, Lucy, to tell her he was lost and had 1% battery left on his phone. He fell down a steep ravine shortly after. And when you see the landscape in which he spent his last moments, you can see why.

“From the road, it looks like you could get down to the coast, but the way down is treacherous. Jay was dehydrated, with no water on him, and he was tired, having been out all night, which would have made him confused.”

In the 5 show, Jay’s uncle Glen, who also travelled to Tenerife, tries to take the path Jay would have followed down the ravine. He says: “You can feel the heat beating down. And the terrain became too dangerous, so we had to turn back some way before the spot where Jay’s body was actually found. But you can see exactly how this tragedy happened.”

Dr Shepherd is in no doubt that Jay was the victim of a terrible accident. He says: “The bottom line is that Jay fell down a steep slope full of rocks and bushes. He had all sorts of scrapes and scratches on his skin.

“The interesting thing, forensically, is that they were all over his body. If you make those scratches yourself, it tends to be in a particular place. If somebody scratches you, the patterns are different. So, just by looking at them we can say, ‘yes, that fits with what I’ve been told.’

“Jay went down a rough hillside, scraping and scratching his skin, and then at some point has an impact, or maybe two impacts, where he injures his pelvis and he has, most importantly, a very severe head injury. I can say from the severity of that head injury, Jay would have known nothing after that and, in fact, it could well have been instantly fatal.

“The other thing, just looking at the head injury, it’s not someone hitting him with a bottle or a hammer or a rock or anything like that. The sites and the patterns and the types of injury just don’t fit. And you don’t murder someone by breaking their pelvis. He fell, and that’s all there is to it.”

For Debbie, there is hope that the broadcast might help to silence the vile trolls who, in September 2025, prompted her to launch a petition calling for Jay’s Law, to stamp out malicious online content.

A supporter of The Mirror’s Missed campaign, to highlight forgotten and unsolved missing persons cases across the UK, working in conjunction with the charity,Missing People, who’ve called for an end tragedy trolling, she says: “Things are moving in the right direction ,but there is still a long way to go.

“Tragedy trolls strike when you are in the worst place of your life. I had a nervous breakdown – and, quite frankly, I’m surprised I’m still here. But I keep going for Jay. I want to stamp out tragedy trolling and I know Jay would be proud of me. He’d say, ‘keep going mum’.”

Debbie has worked closely with Sarah Smith, the MP for the Hyndburn constituency in Lancashire, where she lives.

She will be joining Sarah – who continues to raise the issue of misinformation and disinformation online in the chamber and with Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy, who is responsible for online safety, at the Labour Party Conference next week.

Sarah says: “At this year’s Labour Party Conference, I will be hosting a roundtable event with the Society for Labour Lawyers, Debbie Duncan, Labour MPs and representatives from YouTube, to map out what Jay’s Law could look like and how we can get the cogs moving in Westminster to make this a reality. Tragedy trolling is causing huge amounts of harm. It has made people feel suicidal.”

If it doesn’t stop, she adds: “I’m really worried that we’ll be talking about the death of somebody through suicide, caused by tragedy trolling. It’s not an easy thing to fix and there is currently no law to stop misinformation. But Debbie and Jay’s friends and family are still the victims of intense dis and misinformation online and I won’t stop until they are finally given the chance to grieve.”

*Cause of Death returns to 5 on 30th September at 9pm – Watch|stream on 5.