Jay Slater’s mum Debbie reveals torment over ‘so many unanswered questions’ from son’s tragic Tenerife disappearance
THE heartbroken mum of tragic teen Jay Slater has told how his family are tortured by “so many questions” over what happened when he went missing in Tenerife.
Debbie Duncan wept as she said she “could not get her head around” why Jay, 19, got into a car with two older men after a music festival and went to their remote Airbnb apartment.
And Debbie, 56, said she believed Jay could have left the apartment fearing for his safety the next morning — because he would never let his phone run out of charge.
She said: “Why did he leave there without charging his phone? He would always charge his phone. There are so many questions.”
Debbie also revealed she spoke to Jay hours before he went out — and his last words to her were: “I love you, mother.”
Devastated Debbie wept as she sat alongside older son Zak, 24, for her first interview since Jay’s body and possessions were found in a ravine in the Rural de Teno National Park on July 15.
The grim discovery brought to an end an agonising 29-day search which drew worldwide attention and thrust Debbie into a storm that has seen her trolled by sick ghouls, as we revealed yesterday.
Jay – who went on holiday with pals Lucy Mae Law and Bradley Hargreaves – went missing on Monday, June 17 after leaving the Airbnb apartment around 8am.
The apprentice bricklayer — who had been on holiday with pals Lucy Mae Law and Bradley Hargreaves — went missing on Monday, June 17 after leaving the Airbnb apartment around 8am.
Jay, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, called Lucy, 18, at 8.50am saying he had cut his leg, was lost and dehydrated and had just one per cent battery on his phone.
His mobile last pinged in the mountainous Rural de Teno Park after Jay walked the wrong way from the Airbnb in Masca, 25 miles north of his apartment in Los Cristianos.
And Debbie said she was tormented over why Jay — who had been at the NRG music festival in Playa de las Americas — got into a car between 5am and 6am with the two men.
One was later revealed to be convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, of east London while the other was an associate dubbed ‘Rocky’.
School assistant Debbie also questioned why his friend Lucy did not race to pick him up.
Fighting back tears, she told The Sun: “I don’t know what he thought he was doing by going with these two guys. I really don’t know.
“I can’t get my head round why he just didn’t go back to his own friends, and went with them.
The unanswered questions
- Why did he get into a car with two men he didn’t know rather than his friend?
- Why did he leave their Airbnb without charging his phone? Even though one of them says he gave them a charger?
- Why did he head up the mountains when he left rather than take the path down?
- How did the local cafe owner tell him the first bus wasn’t until 10am when she doesn’t speak a word of English?
- Why didn’t his friend Lucy race to his aid after his desperate last phone call to her?
“In our minds, we think he’s not realised where he was going.
“And it was dark. I just think he’s not even thought about or knew which direction he was going.”
Jay posted a Snapchat picture of himself smoking on the doorstep of the apartment at 7.30am and then walked the wrong way after apparently being told there was no bus to his hotel until 10am.
Asked if he could have left because he was frightened, Debbie said: “That thought crossed my mind.
“Jay would not let his phone run down.
“If he had access to a phone charger, that would be the first thing that he would do.
“So why did he not want to be there?
“Why did he not want to hang about to charge his phone?
“One of these guys had said that he’d given him a charger, but why did he not charge his phone?
“There’s not very many times that I can think where Jay’s not been contactable – and if he’s not, he’ll ring me.
“I’ve got half of his friends’ numbers in my phone because he’s rung me from them and said, ‘Mum, it’s me.’.”
Spanish police allowed the two men to leave Tenerife and quickly said they were “not relevant” to the investigation.
Qassim, 31 – who booked the Airbnb under a false name – later said: “Jay came to the house alive and he left the house alive.”
In her first interview since Jay’s death, Debbie told The Sun…
- She wants to speak to two men Jay went to Airbnb with
- How final videos of Jay clubbing ‘haunt’ her
- How vicious trolls have ‘destroyed’ her with thousands of calls and messages
- She received a vile letter from a troll just days after her Jay’s funeral
- Her torment over a GoFundMe page she didn’t ask for
- How Jay really got caught up in ‘gang attack’ that landed him with conviction
- She ‘just screamed’ when cops found her son’s body
- In her final call to Jay they said ‘I love you’
- She denies rumours Jay stole £12k watch & fell foul of Tenerife drug cartel
- Jay was ‘popular lad’ who didn’t deserve trolls’ abuse
- Her family went sent vile fake images of ‘kidnapped’ Jay
But talking about Spanish detectives, Debbie said: “I don’t know why they interviewed and let them go. I don’t know on what day they interviewed them.”
She said she had not heard from the men who spent Jay’s last living hours with him – but would like to quiz them.
Debbie said: “I would like to speak to them, probably in time.
“I would ask what was happening in Jay’s mind and why did he leave?”
Former detective Mark Williams-Thomas – who jetted to Tenerife to investigate Jay’s disappearance – has suggested Jay walked the wrong way after leaving the apartment it was the suggested route on a phone app.
But Jay’s brother, Zak, said: “I looked on all different ways on the app, and none of them took you up, they all took you down.
“If you were to go up, you’d have to drive all the way around Tenerife to get back to the bottom.”
Haunted by final videos
DEVASTATED Debbie told how she was “haunted” by videos of Jay at the last day of the festival, which she has seen since his tragic death.
They show Jay bare-chested on the club’s dancefloor, swaying around.
She said he liked drinks including spiced rum and coke and disaronno – and accepts he could have taken drugs.
Debbie said: “Obviously at these events drugs are knocking around and lots of people taking them. I don’t know whether he was taking drugs that night or not, but I’m not going to deny that people at these events take drugs and there are drugs at those kind of resorts.”
Debbie – who has considered whether Jay was ‘spiked’ – added: “The videos I’ve seen absolutely haunt me, because I’ve never, ever seen him like that before.
“There’s a video of him, kind of staggering back and he has never been in that state.”
And Debbie added: “I just can’t comprehend, you know, I just can’t get into my head why he would have gone the totally opposite way.
“Instead of going down to civilisation, why he would go up the other way, I just can’t get my head round that bit.”
The family also doubt the account of local café owner Ofelia Medina Hernandez, 66, who said she spoke to Jay – and told him there was no bus until 10am.
Debbie said: “I don’t know how he spoke to her, because she didn’t speak a word of English. She was very cold towards all of the family and put her hand in front of her face when Zak tried to speak to her.”
Jay’s mourning mother has also been left questioning why his friend Lucy did not race to his aid after her son’s desperate last call to her.
Debbie said: “It has left me thinking, well you knew his location.
“Well why didn’t you just go to him? Why didn’t you just go?
“There are taxis everywhere and she could have just gone
“When I spoke to her, I was saying ‘Thanks for what you’ve done.
‘Thanks for reporting him missing – obviously not knowing anything else at that point.
“But she’s only a kid herself, she’s only 18.
TROLLS SHOULD BE ASHAMED
by Katie Davis, Chief Foreign Reporter
SPINELESS trolls who have relentlessly hounded Jay Slater’s grieving family should hang their heads in shame.
When I met with his mum Debbie Duncan I was humbled by the bravery she has shown in the face of such depravity.
Cowards hiding behind their computer and phone screens trolling Jay’s family have added to the unspeakable trauma they are suffering following the 19-year-old’s disappearance and death.
I have followed this story for The Sun since Jay vanished in Tenerife on June 17.
The story quickly became a national obsession with its twists and turns – but at the heart of it is Jay’s heartbroken family.
I watched as Facebook groups rapidly ballooned in the hours after Jay vanished – full of cynical and clueless armchair detectives.
Hundreds of thousands of people piled in – many of them with no purpose beyond causing Jay’s family pain.
Hurtful jokes and conspiracy theories were allowed to flourish.
And then on TikTok, shameless content creators felt the need to exploit Jay’s story for their pitiful view counts and clout-chasing.
Videos spouting bizarre, false and cruel claims were viewed millions of times.
Whatever the family did – or said – was poured over by wannabe psychoanalysts who seemed to be determined to turn Jay’s story into a Netflix crime drama.
The pain the family went through as they became the butt of online jokes even as they searched for their missing son is unforgivable.
And the social media giants who allow hate and falsehoods to spread unhindered deserve their share of the blame.
I was in the north west mountains of Tenerife when police revealed they had found Jay’s body after an agonising 29-day search.
But while this brought a sense of closure for Jay’s loved ones, the torment has continued from sick ghouls who refuse to let them grieve in peace.
Even as Debbie, Jay’s brother Zak and dad Warren were trying to plan his funeral and in the days after, trolls and idiotic conspiracy theorists have carried on targeting the family and peddling vulgar rumours on social media.
And on the day I met with Debbie and Zak, the grief-stricken mum had received a twisted letter to her home from an anonymous sender.
The pathetic writer criticised Debbie while attempting to paint herself as a good mother.
But I wonder how her three grown-up sons would feel if they knew how she had viciously attacked a grieving mum just days after her son’s funeral.
Debbie told me how from the moment she arrived in Tenerife, she was forced to contend with heartless trolls relentlessly calling her and messaging her.
These shameless people made twisted and completely baseless claims such as that Jay had been kidnapped, was part of a drug ring, and even that he’d left the Spanish island on a yacht.
They also sent her sickening photoshopped images – including one that appeared to show Jay chained and beaten.
As well as contending with endless conspiracy theories and trolls constantly messaging and calling her, Debbie is tormented by questions still unanswered.
Little is known about what Jay actually did when he went to an Airbnb in the remote mountains of north west Tenerife hours before he was last heard from.
She hopes to one day speak to the two men Jay went back to the remote Airbnb in Masca with.
Debbie said Jay was never without battery on his phone, so feels she needs answers about why he hadn’t charged his phone, and why he didn’t go back to charge it.
It was emotional to hear Debbie speak about Jay, who she feels has been unfairly portrayed by these trolls who didn’t even know him.
She spoke about his love of playing football, how he always had a smile on his face, and how he did a lot of good for many people.
In their final conversation before Jay’s fateful night out, she told how the last words they said to each other were “I love you”.
Debbie said she was thankful that was the last thing they said to each other.
I can only hope one day Debbie and the rest of his family get the closure and peace they deserve.
“I can’t change anything and there are so many ifs and buts and I can just drive myself insane thinking about everything.”
Debbie – who told us of the “special bond” she shared with Jay – encouraged him to go on his dream holiday.
She paid for his room at the Paloma Beach apartments in Los Cristianos, where he and Brad planned to stay for four days after the festival ended.
She said Jay called her from the apartment hours before his fateful last night out.
Debbie explained: “I’d spoken to him earlier on.
“They’d just been chilling at their apartment and Jay had said he’d burnt his shoulder, “I’d packed him off with some Aloe Vera and said make sure you put that on and said what you’re doing.
“He said he was not going mad and was going to have a few drinks.
“He used to call me mother, and said ‘I love you mother’.
“I used to say I love you my boy. That were the last things that we said to each other, thank God.
“I’m just glad that we spoke to each other that night.”