Jay Slater's mother has revealed that people still ring her son's phone two years after his death. The admission comes in the return of Cause of Death, the true crime Channel 5 series featuring forensic pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd.
The 19-year-old from Lancashire went missing in June 2024 while on holiday in Tenerife. His disappearance prompted a huge manhunt on the island that gained mass media attention. Jay was found dead in a remote area near the village of Masca almost a month later, on July 15.
Coroner's ruling and unanswered questions
A coroner's inquest has ruled the teenager died by accident after falling down a ravine. However, two years on from his death, Jay's mum Debbie Duncan still has unanswered questions.
Appearing on Cause of Death, Debbie is seen for the first time being taken through her son's postmortem by the man who carried it out, Dr Shepherd. He talks her through the details of his examination, explaining the medical evidence behind Jay's death.
Recreating Jay's last walk
Having been given a Spanish post-mortem report just weeks before filming, Debbie returns to Tenerife with Dr Shepherd and her brother Glen to recreate Jay's last walk. A digital forensic scientist helps them by using Jay's phone to reconstruct his last hour of contact.
The series synopsis states: “Jay goes from laughing with friends to telling them he is thirsty and frightened. Why did he leave the road from the mountain village of Masca and lose himself forever in remote terrain?”
“In Masca, accompanied by a local guide, his uncle Glen sets off on the route they believe Jay may have taken. The walk leads him into punishing heat and unforgiving terrain. As Glen’s journey takes him ever closer to the location Jay was finally discovered, Dr Shepherd takes the medical evidence back to the place where Jay died and reveals how little sleep and no water would have affected Jay’s judgement in the hours before he died.”
Memories on Jay's phone
Viewers will see Debbie near the beginning of the episode talking about how her son was ‘so full of life’. Going through his bedroom, she states that he was ‘always smiling, laughing and just full of energy’.
“He loved his football, I think he kicked a ball before he could actually walk. The club he played for actually donated this [a trophy]. This is Jay’s hat he had with him in Tenerife it’s just a reminder of what a happy, dancy lad he was. Just full on from opening his eyes to closing them at night,” she said.
Viewers will also see Debbie going through Jay’s phone, with her revealing that it still receives messages and contains pictures and videos from him from the months leading up to his death.
“It’s strange really that even after two years people still try his phone. I don’t look for that reason, I’m looking because it has a lot of memories there. That’s one [video] he took at work, a dusty old job, filthy. He was doing it for over three years, his bricklaying apprenticeship. I was really proud of him and he was proud of himself.”
Meanwhile, Dr Angus Marshall, a Digital Forensic Scientist, said they can be ‘pretty certain without doubt’ that they know Jay’s location at around 8.30am. He explained: “He’s in contact with Brad and Brandon, he’s laughing and joking with them. Then we get to the call from Lucy, he says he’s thirsty, his mouth is dry, he needs a drink. Lucy reported that he said he was frightened.”
Dr Marshall continued: “The battery was on its way to 0. At 8.52am it switched itself off because there was no power left. The problem is although we know where he was at 8.13am, we have nothing else that tells us locations or moments apart from what his friends recall him saying. He’s found 29 days later, about 1.7km away from his last definitely known fixed point. We don’t know how he went there.”
Cause of Death airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wednesday, September 30.
