Jay Slater's grieving mother has spoken of her guilt over a Snapchat post her son made shortly before he disappeared. The body of the 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was found at the bottom of a ravine in Tenerife in July 2024 after a month-long search.
Mum retraces son's final steps
Debbie Duncan has retraced her son's steps for a Channel 5 series, Cause of Death, returning to the island where he died. In the documentary, Ms Duncan recalls seeing Jay's Snapchat post and thinking: "Why did you not ring me?" She then asks herself: "Why did I not ring him when I saw his Snapchat that morning?"
Ms Duncan adds: "Nobody knew what was going to happen. I need to stop feeling guilty about that. It's really hard."
Haunting question over son's route
Jay's mother returned to the spot in Tenerife where he went missing, retracing the route he is understood to have taken. In the programme, she reveals a question that has haunted her since his death: why he did not turn back and return to the road.
After seeing the terrain, she concludes her son must have been so scared that he thought he could not turn back.
Final moments and documentary air date
Jay had been at a nightclub in Playa de las Americas before travelling to an Airbnb in the Masca area of northern Tenerife with two men he met. He left the property on June 17, 2024, calling friends to say his phone was running out of battery and he had no water. An inquest found Jay died instantly from injuries suffered in a fall.
The documentary shows Ms Duncan breaking down as she lays flowers near where Jay left the road, according to The Sun. She imagines what her son would say to her, telling programme makers: "I know he'd be so sorry for the mistakes he made. He'd be saying, 'I'm so sorry, Mum'." Cause of Death airs on Channel 5 at 9pm on Wednesday, September 30.
