JAY Slater’s mum recalled how she “just screamed” when police in Tenerife told her a body had been found.
Debbie Duncan got a call from cops on the island on the morning of July 15, asking her, Jay’s dad Warren and brother Zak could go to the station.
And when they got there they were told – via a translator – that police had found human remains they believed to be Jay’s 29 days after he disappeared on June 17.
Bravely speaking to The Sun, Debbie recalled how she broke down and didn’t want to believe the body could be her beloved 19-year-old son’s
Debbie, 56, said: “We were all sat in a little room and I just screamed.
“I don’t really remember what they were saying.
“I wanted to see him but it wasn’t possible.
“I was just in a state. They hadn’t formally identified him, then.
“They just said human remains, and we believe it could be Jay.
“They said they had his bag, his trainers, his shorts, T-shirt.
“I had to see them to be 100 per cent sure it was him – because I couldn’t process it and was in denial.
“He had been taken to the mortuary up at Santa Cruz.”
Debbie told how she, Zak and Warren made the sombre journey at hour’s drive away to the mortuary.
But they were heartbreakingly urged not to see Jay’s body, which was tragically found in a ravine in north west Tenerife.
Debbie said: “We went there and we just got taken into a room and it was just a casket.
“Just a casket with a single rose. And the rose was on top, what they had put there.
“And I just broke down again and screamed and cried.”
Devastated Debbie wept as she sat alongside older son Zak, 24, for her first interview since Jay’s body and possessions were found in a ravine in the Rural de Teno National Park on July 15.
The grim discovery brought to an end an agonising 29-day search which drew worldwide attention and thrust Debbie into a storm that has seen her relentlessly trolled by sick ghouls.
We were all sat in a little room and I just screamed. I don’t really remember what they were saying. I wanted to see him but it wasn’t possible
Debbie Duncan
Jay – who went on holiday with pals Lucy Mae Law and Bradley Hargreaves – went missing on Monday, June 17 after leaving the Airbnb apartment around 8am.
Apprentice bricklayer Jay, of Oswaldtwistle, Lancs called Lucy, 18, at 8.50 am saying he had cut his leg, was lost and dehydrated – and had just 1% battery on his phone.
His mobile last pinged in the Rural de Teno Park – after Jay walked the wrong way from the Airbnb in Masca, 25 miles north of his apartment in Los Cristianos.
After his disappearance, the suffering of Jay’s family was made worse by sick ghouls who have peddled vicious claims on social media.
Among the wild accusations were that Jay had stolen a £12,000 watch from a gangster during his fateful night out.
But Debbie insists such claims are nothing more than callous rumours.
Cranks peddled false theories including that Jay had fallen foul of a drugs cartel and had taken a yacht to Morocco.
But Debbie told The Sun: “He would never have been involved in anything like that.
“He had only been in Tenerife three days – and was at a festival with friends which had wristbands, security and an itinerary.
“I’ve no idea where these drug stories have come from and the stuff about him stealing a watch is nonsense.”
Debbie slammed trolls who have been hounding her family and spreading nasty comments and baseless claims on platforms such as TikTok and Facebook.
She added: “The people saying stuff about him didn’t know Jay and they don’t know us.
“He hasn’t been here to defend himself against all these horrible stories that were going on around the world about him.”
Debbie also said the teenager was “guilty by association” over an attack that left him with a conviction.
Critics of Jay and his family have recirculated online stories about Jay’s involvement in an assault on a 17-year-old in 2021.
Victim Tom Hilton was left with a head wound after he was attacked by a group of youngsters with weapons, including a golf club and axe in Rishton, Lancs.
Tom spoke out after Jay went missing on June 17 – urging trolls to leave his family alone and allow them to focus on the search.
Jay’s mum Debbie Duncan said Jay did not harm Tom, but was convicted of violent disorder after witnessing the assault.
Debbie said: “They used to go up to woods and into this old paper mill, five minutes away.
“This one night there was an incident where there were probably a couple of hundred people there.
“A lad, who was older, got attacked by what he described as 20 kids.
“They were appealing for witnesses, and I said to Jay, I think you should go and do a statement.
“So I took him myself to Blackburn, Greenbank Police Station.
“And he gave his version of events, which that Tom was already on the ground when he saw it and he was at the back.
“I didn’t think anything of it, but the following April, a letter came through saying that Jay was being charged with violent disorder.
“Jay attended the trial and Tom stood up in court and said that he didn’t remember much about it.
“But Jay was kind of found guilty by association, and I don’t think he struck a blow or harmed Tom.”
Because Jay’s in the limelight, they just want to say every bad thing that they can say about him… he was a lovely boy and wasn’t a bad person
Debbie Duncan
Debbie added: “I would just say that loads of kids get into trouble when they’re younger.
“There’s grown men – dads, granddads, who get done for violent disorder for a fight that breaks out, say, outside a football stadium most weekends.
“But because Jay’s in the limelight, they just want to say every bad thing that they can say about him.
“But they don’t know Jay and are dragging up all things that they don’t even know about.
“They don’t know his background and his upbringing with a loving family.
“He was a lovely boy and wasn’t a bad person. I had Snapchat so I could communicate with him.
“He had a French bulldog, Buster, and he would be sending me Snaps when he was out with the dog.”
