Jay Slater’s mom thanks well-wishers as GoFundMe closes at £72,821 complete and she or he reveals what the cash was spent on

Jay Slater’s mother has thanked well-wishers for their kind donations as a GoFundMe page set up following his disappearance has been closed, raising £72,821 in total. 

The 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer went missing after he attended the NRG Festival rave at Papagayo, in Playa de las Americas, on June 17. 

His disappearance sparked a month-long search effort, which garnered world-wide attention, but it came to a tragic end in the mountainous area of north-west of the island when his body was discovered down a deep and treacherous ravine.

A GoFundMe page was set up by Jay’s best friend Lucy Mae to aid in the search efforts — she was the last person to speak to Jay before he went missing. 

Now, the fundraiser has been closed and Jay’s mother Debbie Duncan, 56, posted a final message to thank all those who donated, saying ‘our journey is far from over but the burden has been eased with your support.’

She also revealed what the money had been spent on, which included giving the teenager the ‘send off he deserved’. His funeral took place at Accrington Cemetery Chapel in Lancashire on August 10.

Ms Duncan’s post on November 21 read:  ‘We would like to thank all you beautiful people who supported us throughout this heartbreaking time. Jay really did touch the hearts of the nation and it truly showed us how much love you all shared with us.

‘With your support we were able to stay in Tenerife until we got our beautiful boy back to the UK. 

‘We were able to fund the the Signi search team from the Netherlands who supported us throughout the days when Jay was found. 

‘Jay truly deserved the send off we were able to give him and we thank you all for that.

We have been overwhelmed with messages of support from all over the globe and will be eternally grateful to all of you. 

‘Our journey of trauma and grief will continue for ever and we will never recover. We lost our beautiful boy in extremely tragic circumstances whilst the world watched. 

‘We do not and will never understand how Jay’s story reached every corner of the globe.

‘Our journey is far from over but the burdens eased with your support. We would also like to thank the person who looked after Jay’s fundraiser page whom we have been in constant contact with, especially whilst in Tenerife, the support and advice you gave will not be forgotten. 

‘Donations will be turned off with this final message. Jay’s family and friends are trying to come to terms and process this tragic loss and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.’

Ms Duncan previously revealed that Jay was due to sit his driving test once he was back home in the UK and that he had a good job and so much to live for, before his life was tragically cut short.

She told The Sun: ‘Jay was 19 with the world at his feet. He was coming back to a good job and was about to take his driving test. He was just a lovely boy with a massive personality and everybody just loved Jay being in his company – family, friends and work.’

Jay went missing after he attended the NRG Festival rave at Papagayo, in Playa de las Americas, on June 17.

The teenager got separated from his friends and went back to an AirBnB holiday cottage in the remote village of Masca with two British men he met.

He was last seen trying to walk the 10-hour journey home from a night out after missing a bus back.

Jay is believed to have lost his footing and fallen while desperately trying to climb through the ravine to try and return to his hotel.

An autopsy later found he suffered broken bones but died of traumatic head injuries, consistent with a fall from height, and his death would have been instantaneous.

But Ms Duncan later received a devastating call from Jay’s pal Lucy Mae Law telling her he was missing the next day on June 17. 

Footage of the inhospitable terrain in Tenerife which Jay clambered over shows a series of ridges and rocky outcrops with sheer drops of up to 300ft either side.

The volcanic landscape is considered to be almost inaccessible by people on foot apart from by experienced mountaineers with ropes and climbing equipment.

Some of the gaps between the cliffs are only a few feet wide and hidden in shadows, possibly explaining how the 19-year-old’s body was missed by earlier aerial searches.

Ms Duncan had paid for his room at the Paloma Beach apartments in Los Cristianos, where he and friend Bradley Hargreaves planned to stay for four days.

She said he called her and said they were ‘chilling’ at their rooms and he’d burnt his shoulder, so she said to apply Aloe Vera she’d given him for the trip.

Speaking about the night out, he told her he wasn’t going ‘mad’ and only planned to have a ‘few drinks’, his mother said.

Ms Duncan slammed the cruel trolls who posted comments and conspiracy theories on social media when she was searching for her son.  

The grieving mother also revealed she was sent thousands of messages, pictures and videos including mock-ups of Jay being tortured – blasting them as ‘sick’.

She was sent two sick videos of people, meant to be Jay, being beaten up and one clip was labelled: ‘We have your son’.

His funeral was even targeted by online scammers who wrongly claimed people could pay to watch it streaming live.

She reported some messages to the police and vowed to campaign for tougher laws on trolling which ‘terrorised’ her family.

The Slater family received a torrent of abuse online when they were searching for Jay as well as in the weeks after his tragic death.

Trolls accused them of stealing money from a GoFundMe page they didn’t even set up. Jay’s friend Lucy-Mae Law started the fundraiser on behalf of the family.

Ms Duncan said even though trolls attacked her about the fundraiser, she had no clue what it was and barely used any of the money, save for some accommodation costs, a search dog team and Jay’s repatriation.

She also confirmed she had been speaking to a liaison officer at GoFundMe ‘virtually everyday’ who knows the ‘money has not been misused’.

Ms Duncan and Jay’s older brother Zak, 24,  said he ‘deserved every bit’ of the tributes given as hundreds attended his funeral on August 10.

Her ‘smiling’ boy had a ‘good job’ and was about to take his driving test upon his return home. 

Hundreds of mourners braved the drizzle at Accrington Crematorium Chapel in Lancashire to attend the teenager’s funeral.

The farewell was a sea of blue, as this was Jay’s favourite colour. People were seen carrying blue flowers, wearing blue wristbands and ribbons, even blue smoke bombs were let off outside.

Jay’s body was brought to the chapel by horse-drawn carriage in a blue coffin, with ‘JAY’ embossed on the side.

His mother and father Warren Slater, 58, both wiped away tears as they led a procession of mourners.

The Slater family has endured conspiracy theories and vitriolic comments online since the teenager went missing – including hoax hostage videos.

Slamming the trolls, Jay’s grieving mother said: ‘The people saying stuff about him didn’t know Jay and they don’t know us.

‘He hasn’t been here to defend himself against all these horrible stories that were going on around the world about him.’