Debbie Slater, the mother of Jay Slater, who went missing in Tenerife in 2024, is heard speaking to UK police the day after her son went missing in a new Channel 4 documentary

Jay Slater’s mum says her “legs turned to jelly” and she called police to report him missing

In a new Channel 4 documentary, viewers will hear Debbie Duncan speak to the UK police the day after Jay went missing on holiday. “He has been located miles and miles away from where he is staying, up a bloody mountain,” she tells UK police after calling 999.

She then tells police how Jay spoke to his friend Lucy Law but only had 1% battery so the conversation was short-lived and speaks of her concern and not knowing the two lads he went off with.

Jay, 19, from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, went missing in Tenerife in June 2024 after attending a music festival.

Jay Slater’s mother speaks in the upcoming Channel 4 documentary (Image: Supplied)

The Disappearance of Jay Slater airs on Channel 4 next weekend (Image: Channel 4)

CCTV footage showed him in nightclubs but he then got into a car with two men he had met on the holiday and was driven to an Airbnb in the remote village of Masca, about 22 miles (36km) away from where he was staying.

It is thought he then tried to get back to where he was staying and got into difficulty.

On a separate second call to Spanish police, his friend Lucy tells them: “My friend he’s met some people, and they’ve drove him up into the mountains. I don’t know why and he’s left the house,

“And I don’t know if something happened, and I was telling him, you need to go back to your friends and tell them to drive you back down. And he said ‘No, I can’t. I can’t’. But I don’t know why that was.”

The Disappearance of Jay Slater airs on Channel 4 next Sunday night and has never-before-seen CCTV footage, previously unheard audio, the discovery of unsent messages, and access to the Slater family as they search for answers about what happened to Jay.

After the calls to police a huge search was launched before Jay’s body was found in a remote area near the village of Masca on 15 July.

Debbie paid tribute to her late son at an inquest into his death in July

Within hours of Jay ‘s disappearance in the summer of 2024, mass online interest set conspiracy theories flying, causing a social media storm led by true-crime keyboard detectives.

The case became the focus of global attention, with over 30 million videos online speculating about Jay’s whereabouts.

At an inquest into Jay’s death in July, the late teenager’s mother told how her son’s death had “touched the hearts of the nation”. Debbie gave a tribute to the 19-year-old, whose death from head injuries was ruled an accident, following a two-day hearing at Preston Coroner’s Court.

Coroner Dr James Adeley ruled Jay, who had taken a number of drugs, had fallen in a dangerous ravine, suffering un-survivable head injuries while try to walk back to his holiday let across mountainous terrain in Tenerife, in July last year.

Debbie, accompanied by the teenager’s father, Warren Slater, wept as she told the court her son was “full of fun and was always a joy to be around” with many friends.

He was close to completing his apprenticeship as a bricklayer, was learning to drive and had been “counting down the days” to his first holiday with friends abroad.

“Not in a million years did we predict what was to unfold,” she said. “He had a large circle of good friends who have been left devastated at his tragic death. Our lives will never be the same without Jay in it.”

Her son’s disappearance prompted huge media coverage and sparked a multitude of conspiracy theories on social media.

Debbie added: “He may of just been a story for the past 13 months, a story full of untruths. He did touch the hearts of the nation and that overwhelms us. We ask you to please now let Jay rest in eternal peace.”

*The Disappearance of Jay Slater airs on Channel 4 on Sunday September 28 at 9pm.