Jay Slater’s devastated mum unintentionally proven photographs of son’s corpse
Cause Of Death will air on Channel 5 tonight (September 30) where a tearful Debbie Duncan reveals that people still call her son Jay Slater’s phone two years after his death
Debbie Duncan opened up her son’s death in the new documentary (Image: ©5 Broadcasting Limited / Candour Productions)
The mum of Jay Slater wept during a heartbreaking new documentary about her son’s death where she said: “I know that he would be so sorry for the mistakes he made. He would be saying, ‘I’m so sorry mum’.”
It has been two years since 19-year-old Jay lost his life during his first holiday abroad without his mum and dad. He fell into a ravine on June 17, 2024, after leaving a property in the village of Masca in Tenerife, where he was driven to after meeting two men.
It was 20 miles from where he had been partying with friends at the NRG music festival and Papagayo nightclub in Playa de Las Americas. And after leaving the apartment in Masca, he called his friend Lucy Law to say he was lost in the mountains while he also informed another pal that he missed a bus so was walking back.
Tragically, Jay went off-road and slipped into a ravine before he was found 29 days later — and his death was eventually ruled as an accident. However, Debbie Duncan, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, has now appeared in a Channel 5 documentary that airs tonight (September 30) called Cause of Death to find out whether her son suffered in his final moments.
And in one poignant moment, Debbie, 57, revealed: “It’s strange really. Even after two years people still try his phone. But I don’t look for that reason. I’m looking because you know there’s a lot of memories on there.”
Debbie wept tears during the documentary (Image: ©5 Broadcasting Limited / Candour Productions)
She then played a video from the phone and said: “That’s one he has took at work. Dusty old job. Filthy. He had been doing it for almost three years, his bricklaying apprenticeship. I were really proud of him. And he was proud of himself.
“When we got his phone back it was like… just seeing it for yourself in black and white. There’s videos on there from the festival on the Friday night, the Saturday pool party.”
One of the most heartbreaking parts of the documentary was when Debbie told pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who conducted the Home Office post-mortem, that Spanish police accidentally showed her pictures of her son’s body when she was retrieving his phone.
She said: “I did think about it (viewing his body) and thought, I don’t think I can. But then, when we had to go back to Tenerife to get paperwork from the courts and to collect his phone, to my horror there were images of Jay.
“I thought my heart was going to stop beating. Whenever people say, ‘How did you know it was Jay?’ Well, it was Jay. My beautiful boy.”
Jay Slater went missing in June 2024(Image: ©5 Broadcasting Limited / Candour Productions)
Courageous Debbie was filmed returning to Rural de Teno national park to retrace Jay’s final steps before he fell into the 82ft-deep ravine. She was joined by Dr Shepherd and her brother, Glen Duncan.
Dr Shepherd talked her through the Spanish post-mortem report that had been published and he later told The Sun: “But neither post-mortem showed anything to suggest he was anything other than a fit and healthy young lad who became confused and disorientated and had a really tragic fall.
“Debbie was worried about how dehydrated he was, how confused he was, and why. He had taken a couple of drugs and drunk alcohol, but his alcohol level was not high. As the sun came up, it would have got hot very quickly, and you can understand how confusion would have set in.”
He also answered the one question Debbie wanted solving, which was whether he suffered before his death. Dr Shepherd confirmed that because his head injuries were so severe, his death would have been immediate, and he would not have felt any pain.
Debbie said walking the route Jay had in his final moments brought her ‘closure’(Image: ©5 Broadcasting Limited / Candour Productions)
An inquest ruled that he died instantly from traumatic head and brain injuries after the accidental fall — and earlier this year Debbie took to social media on the second anniversary of her son’s death.
She wrote: “How is it 2 years today that I gave you that last hug as you were flying to Tenerife. You were so excited going to your 1st festival abroad. Never in a million years did I think that would be our last ever hug.
“The pain in my heart is unbearable. Until we meet again my beautiful boy. Love and miss you forever Jay. Love mum.”
Cause Of Death airs on Channel 5 on Wednesday (September 30)
