The mother of Jay Slater, the British teenager who tragically died in Tenerife, has launched a powerful campaign for new legislation after being subjected to a torrent of vicious online abuse accusing her of murdering her own son.
'They Accused Me of Murdering My Son'
Debbie Duncan has spoken exclusively about the devastating impact of social media trolls who have targeted her family since her 19-year-old son disappeared during a holiday in June 2024. Jay's body was discovered almost a month later in the Juan Lopez ravine, with Spanish police concluding he had accidentally fallen to his death.
"I've been accused of all sorts," Debbie revealed. "They say we knew why he was going to Tenerife and that he was going to get involved in selling drugs. That we covered up his murder, that it was all a set up and the GoFundMe was fake and he was going to reappear."
One particularly cruel content creator even suggested: "How do you know it's Jay that was in the coffin - he needs digging up."
The Campaign for 'Jay's Law'
Now, eighteen months after her son's death, Debbie is fighting back. She has launched an official parliamentary petition for what she calls 'Jay's Law' - new legislation that would require social media platforms to remove false and malicious content aimed at bereaved families.
"Ofcom regulates what we watch on mainstream TV but doesn't have any say on the social media side of things," Debbie explained. "The people who do this hide behind screens, but what they say has real consequences for real families."
Her local MP, Sarah Smith for Hyndburn and Haslingden, is backing the campaign. "We can't keep allowing grieving families to become targets for abuse and lies every time a tragedy happens," Smith stated. "If someone shouted these things on Debbie's doorstep, they'd be arrested. But online, people get away with it."
A Growing Problem of 'Tragedy Trolling'
The campaign comes as a Channel 4 documentary highlights the increasing phenomenon of 'tragedy trolling,' where families of high-profile missing persons cases become targets for online speculation and abuse.
Debbie described how the abuse extends beyond her family to professionals involved in the case. "They even harass the professionals like the coroner - ripping them to pieces on social media," she said. "They're reporting the facts but these trolls don't want to know the facts. They just want to create their own narrative."
Despite reporting the abusive content, Debbie says the current system is inadequate. Even when posts are removed, content creators can simply start new channels with no proper checks in place.
Debbie and MP Sarah Smith are now organising a cross-party meeting of MPs and Ministers to discuss how Jay's Law can be brought forward. The meeting will explore ways to strengthen protections for grieving families and ensure social media platforms are held accountable when they fail to act.
The petition needs 100,000 signatures to be debated in Parliament. "If this campaign can protect even one more family from going through what we have, it will have been worth it," Debbie said.
