Debbie Duncan, the mother of Jay Slater, has revealed in a new Channel 5 documentary that Spanish police accidentally showed her pictures of her son's body. The documentary, titled Cause of Death, airs tonight (September 30) and features a tearful Debbie discussing the aftermath of her son's death.
It has been two years since 19-year-old Jay lost his life during his first holiday abroad without his parents. He fell into a ravine on June 17, 2024, after leaving a property in the village of Masca in Tenerife, where he had been driven after meeting two men. The location was 20 miles from where he had been partying with friends at the NRG music festival and Papagayo nightclub in Playa de Las Americas. After leaving the apartment in Masca, he called his friend Lucy Law to say he was lost in the mountains, and he also informed another pal that he missed a bus and was walking back.
Mum's heartbreaking revelation
In one poignant moment in the documentary, Debbie, 57, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, revealed that people still try her son's phone. She said: "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."
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 came 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."
Retracing final steps
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."
Dr Shepherd also answered the one question Debbie wanted solving, which was whether her son suffered before his death. He confirmed that because his head injuries were so severe, his death would have been immediate, and he would not have felt any pain.
Anniversary tribute
An inquest ruled that Jay died instantly from traumatic head and brain injuries after the accidental fall. 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."
Debbie also said in the documentary: "I know that he would be so sorry for the mistakes he made. He would be saying, 'I'm so sorry mum'." Cause of Death airs on Channel 5 on Wednesday (September 30).
