Jay Slater’s mother has returned to Tenerife for a documentary investigating the circumstances surrounding her son’s death.
The 19-year-old disappeared in the north of the island in 2024 after attending a music festival. His body was not discovered until 29 days later.
An inquest concluded that Mr Slater had fallen from a height and sustained fatal traumatic head injuries. No evidence of third-party involvement was found, and his death was ruled accidental.
During the search, his family faced a barrage of online speculation from amateur detectives, with social media users—including many on TikTok—promoting fantastical theories about what had happened to him.
In a new Channel 5 documentary, Debbie Duncan reveals that one question continued to trouble her after her son vanished. Hours before his disappearance, he had called friends to say he was lost and had no water—but did he suffer?
Ms Duncan, 57, travelled with her brother Glen to Tenerife’s Rural de Teno national park for the programme, Cause of Death, retracing the route Mr Slater is believed to have taken.
The filming took place several weeks after Ms Duncan received the delayed Spanish post-mortem report. It stated that her son died after falling into a ravine measuring 82ft in depth.
She also discussed the Spanish and British post-mortem examinations with pathologist Dr Richard Shepherd, who carried out the Home Office examination of Mr Slater’s body.
Jay Slater (middle), pictured with his mother Debbie and uncle Glen, died in Tenerife in 2024 after falling down a ravine
Ms Duncan travelled to the village near where her son was found alongside Dr Richard Shepherd to examine her son’s final movements
Dr Shepherd told The Sun that Ms Duncan’s main concern was whether her son had been conscious of what was happening before he died.
“She wanted to know how his injuries would have affected him,” he said. “I was able to tell her that yes, it was an awful injury, and yes, it killed him.”
“But the head injury was so severe that it probably would have killed him immediately. It was the end—there was no pain and suffering.”
“He wasn’t injured on the hillside dying slowly, and that was important for her to understand.”
Dr Shepherd said Ms Duncan’s determination to establish the truth had been intensified by the “hurtful speculation” surrounding the apprentice bricklayer’s death.
Online rumours claimed that Mr Slater had been murdered, while manipulated footage purporting to show him being tortured was also circulated.
However, investigators found no evidence that he had been deliberately harmed.
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Dr Shepherd said the Spanish and British authorities’ investigation moved slowly between the two countries, creating an information vacuum that online sleuths attempted to fill.
Despite the speculation, he said there was nothing to support any account other than the tragic fall recorded by the inquest.
He joined Ms Duncan and her brother on a visit to Masca, the village where Mr Slater left his Airbnb after partying with friends he had met at the NRG music festival.
Half an hour after leaving the house his friend Lucy Law called him and was told he was thirsty and ‘frightened’.
During the 29-day search for Mr Slater, online sleuths bombarded Ms Duncan with theories on her son’s whereabouts
But Dr Shepherd, who carried out the Home Office post-mortem on Mr Slater, told his mother the 19-year-old’s death was quick when he fell after becoming lost in the north of the island
At 8.50am, 20 minutes after the first call, he rang Ms Law to tell her he was in the ‘middle of nowhere’ and ‘all I can see are mountains’ before his phone battery ran out two minutes later.
Ms Duncan said in the programme that she had thought of her son: ‘Why did you not ring me?’
She continued: ‘But then I also think: “Why did I not ring him when I saw his Snapchat that morning?”‘
‘Nobody knew what was going to happen. I need to stop feeling guilty about that. It’s really hard.’
She wanted to know why her son did not turn back after telling Ms Law he felt scared on the road but in her visit to Masca, she understood his helplessness as he stood among the rocks.
She said: ‘We thought, how was it possible to get to a place where he said to Lucy: “I’m lost, all I can see is mountains”? He must have been so scared, thinking, I can’t turn back.
‘And when you look at it, you just know why. The closure I’ve got is from the walk, knowing where he set off from, how he has seen the ocean and gone down, and where he got to before he died.
‘Seeing all that now, I understand it better. That’s what closure has given me.’
Ms Duncan said she knew her son would be ‘sorry’ for the ‘mistakes he made’ and the consequences which came thereafter.
Cause of Death is on Channel 5 on Wednesday at 9pm.