Concerns continue to grow over Jay Slater, 19, who went missing whilst holidaying with friends in Tenerife – and for his concerned mother Debbie Duncan, the past week and a half has been a nightmare.
Debbie, 55, travelled to the Canary Islands with other family members after learning of Jay’s disappearance on the morning of Monday 17th June. A frantic search is still ongoing, with relatives hoping the apprentice bricklayer will be found safe.
Police searching for Jay are now focusing on the area where the festival-goer’s mobile phone last ‘beeped’ on the way back to a valley in the mountainous area of the island.
At a press conference held today, Detective Mark Williams-Thomas, a private investigator assisting in the Nicola Bury case, asked two men who had gone to the Airbnb with Jay Slater after the rave party on Sunday night “for important information to come out.”
Explaining why Jay’s family was not present at the meeting, he said: “They know that the press is a very important aspect of this story, but they are reluctant to speak because they really want to cooperate with the Spanish police and the Spanish authorities and they do not allow this. We have to respect that.
“I’ve spent yesterday and the night before with them because I come here and I work with the family, and they are a very united family, very supportive. Their only mission is, of course, to find out what happened to Jay. They still live in the hope that Jay will come back. He’s not safe but he’s still alive.”
Here, heartbreaking struggle as she continues to suffer while waiting for answers. Debbie, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, told the paper she is suffering and no longer in her right mind. “They’re doing a good job and we get news from the consulate so we just have to trust them.
She added: “I know that Brits who were at the festival have also come forward and given details of what they know but I’ve not been told that. Jay’s very good friends from his home town have been there too and put up posters. They’re good kids and, like me, they want him home.”
And a source told MailOnline that the distraught mother is in so much pain she is “on the verge of a breakdown”. It comes as Debbie has issued a five-word warning to critics of the Get Jay Slater Home fundraising campaign, which at the time of writing has raised more than £35,000 and counting.
Debbie expressed regret at some of the speculation surrounding Jay’s disappearance, urging trolls to remember “it could happen to you” and acknowledging she had felt “disheartened” by some of the reactions she had seen online. “I’m really sorry about everyone’s comments. They seem very upset about this GoFundMe page.
“I really hope they don’t have to take my son home in a body bag. The funds will not be released and they won’t be released if they don’t need to.” I really can’t believe the British public won’t support me in trying to find Jay. This could happen to anyone one day. I’m so disappointed in you all.”
A distressed Debbie has also had to deal with a string of outrageous rumours, including some comparing her to Karen Matthews, the mother who hatched a twisted plot to kidnap her baby daughter Shannon Matthews in 2008 and extort a ransom.
In return for these cruel comparisons, Debbie explained exactly why she hadn’t looked for Jay, despite flying to the island. Speaking from the hotel where she is staying with her family, Debbie said: “People are constantly asking me on social media ‘why I’m not there?’ and calling me the new Karen Matthews. I can’t stand it.”
She continued, “I’m still hopeful. I’m still not feeling negative. I know it’s already the fifth day. It’s not just that they haven’t said anything about it at all. I don’t know what it was like today, because I was warned not to go near it because I would collapse.”