The mum of missing teenager Jay Slater has issued a stark admission, as she missed a press conference by a British investigator helping with the search for the 19-year-old in Tenerife.
Jay disappeared while on holiday with friends in Tenerife on June 17 and his mother, Debbie Duncan, has described the past week and a half as a living nightmare. Upon hearing about her son’s disappearance, Debbie, 55, immediately flew to the Canary Island with other family members. A frantic search is still ongoing, with family and friends clinging onto hope that the apprentice bricklayer will be found unharmed.
The police investigation into Jay’s whereabouts is now centred around the last known location of his mobile phone, as they revisit a ravine in a mountainous area of the island.
At a press conference held today, Detective Mark Williams-Thomas, a private investigator who previously assisted in the Nicola Bulley case, urged the two men who accompanied Jay Slater back to the Airbnb after Sunday night’s rave to “come forward with crucial information”.
Addressing why Jay’s family were absent from the press conference, he stated: “The family are very grateful for you to be here. They appreciate the press are a really important aspect of the story but they are reluctant to speak because they really want to work with Spanish police, and Spanish authorities and they have not sanctioned this. We have to respect that,” reports the Mirror.
He added: “Since I have been here and worked with the family, I have spent yesterday with them and the night before and they are very, very united family and they are very supportive and their one mission of course is to find out what happened to Jay. They still live with the hope that Jay will return and he is, not safe, but still alive.”
In an interview with Mail Online, school finance advisor Debbie expressed her distress, confessing she’s now at her ‘wit’s end’. Debbie, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, told the outlet: “It’s been a week now and it’s been awful. I’ve barely slept and I’m at my wits’ end.
“The Spanish police are doing a good job and we are getting updated from the consulate so we just put our faith in them. I know people in the UK have come forward as well who were at the festival and they are giving details of what they know but I’m not being told about that.
“Jay’s very good friends from home have also been over and have put up posters. They are good kids and like me just want him home.”
MailOnline also reported that the distressed mum is so tormented that she is ‘on the verge of a breakdown’. This follows as Debbie issued a five-word warning to those who’ve criticised the fundraiser set up to ‘Get Jay Slater Home’, which at the time of writing has raised more than £35,000 and counting. Debbie, grappling with the distressing disappearance of her son Jay, has voiced her disappointment at the online speculation and criticism she’s faced.
In a plea on Facebook, Debbie expressed her sadness: “I really am saddened by all your comments. You seem to be so bothered about this GoFundMe page.
“She continued with a stark reminder to the public: “I really hope I am not taking my son home in a body bag. The funds are not released and won’t be if not needed. I really cannot believe the British public are not supporting me in trying to find Jay. This may happen to any of you one day. Very let down by you all. “
ddressing the harsh rumours and explaining her inability to join the search, Debbie stated from her hotel base: “People keep asking on social media ‘why aren’t I up there? and calling me the new Karen Matthews.
“I just can’t face it. Exhausted but holding onto hope. I’m just exhausted.”
“I’m still hopeful. I’m not feeling negative just yet. I know it’s five days. It’s not just that they’ve said absolutely not. I don’t know what it’s been like today because I’ve been advised to stay away because I would just break down.”