A new Channel 4 documentary has seen Jay Slater’s mother, Debbie Duncan, speak out about the death of the teenager last year.
Debbie spoke in the documentary about how, following the 19-year-old’s death, she had logged into his Snapchat account and discovered a devastating message.
Slater went missing in July of last year during a trip to Tenerife with friends.
A near month long search followed, marked by social media ‘experts’ creating endless conspiracy theories.
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Sadly, Slater was found dead on July 15. An inquest into his death found that he had died after an accidental 60 foot fall into a ravine near the village of Masca.
Speaking in The Disappearance of Jay Slater, Debbie opened up about not only the unsent message she discovered, but the effect conspiracy theories had on their family.
At the time of his disappearance there were theories ranging from Jay Slater having been murdered for drug debts all the way to people accusing Debbie of murdering her son.
This led her to call for the introduction of legislation called ‘Jay’s Law’, calling to limit the spread of online misinformation that could harm bereaved families.
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Backed by Debbie’s local MP Sarah Smith, it has been presented to Westminster as a petition.
Amongst the heartbreak of the continued misinformation that accused her family of being involved in his death, Debbie also spoke in the doc about the message she found on his Snapchat.
It was a message to his friend Bradley Geoghegan, the last he sent, saying: "listen, I don't think I'm going to make it."
When Debbie logged into Jay's Snapchat account, the message ended up belatedly sending to Bradley.
She said of this whilst breaking down into tears: "The message was obviously just flying around and then the message sent to Brad which obviously gave Brad a fright. He messaged me straight away.
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"That was the last message he sent... It's kind of like he knew he just weren't going to make it."
She also recounted how she had been told her son was missing by a friend partying with him in Tenerife, Lucy Law.
She said: "I was at work. I got a call from Lucy. She just said, 'Jay's missing, he didn't come back last night'.
"She just said, 'I've reported him missing to the police'. My legs were just like jelly, I've just gone into panic."
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The documentary also shows CCTV of the last recorded moments alive of Jay, in which he was turned away from a nightclub.
Footage shows him at a nightclub called Papagayo the night of his death, leaving at 1.04am.
He is refused entry eight minutes later and, at 2.40am, he sends a message saying that he 'can't get in Papagayo they got marker on me'.
Eight minutes later Lucy offered to come get him, before Slater replied saying: "Doesn't matter it's ok. I on a mission."
The Disappearance of Jay Slater is available to watch on Channel 4.
Topics: Jay Slater, Channel 4, True Crime, TV and Film, Documentaries
Michael Slavin