Jay Slater’s mother has revealed that he sent a final social media message to a friend shortly before he tragically fell to his death in a remote ravine in Tenerife.
The 19-year-old’s Snapchat message was only sent after his mother, Debbie Duncan, managed to log into his account following the retrieval of his iPhone. In a new documentary with Channel 4, she recalled how the message was received by his friend Bradley Geoghegan, who was left unnerved by its content.
Debbie said: “When we signed into Jay’s Snapchat, there was an unsent message from Jay to Brad. So the message was obviously just flying around and then the message sent to Brad, which obviously gave Brad a fright. He messaged me straight away, ‘Are you on Jay’s phone?’ I said, ‘Yeah, we’ve just signed into his Snapchat.’ He said, ‘I’ve just got a message that’s just come through from Jay. The last message he sent. He said, ‘Listen, I’m not going to make it.’ It’s kind of like he knew he just wasn’t going to make it.”
Jay, a teenager from Lancashire, had travelled to the Spanish holiday island last June to attend the New Rave Generation festival with two friends. During the early hours of 17 June, he left the Papagayo nightclub after meeting two older men from East London. He then travelled 30 miles with them to their Airbnb in the remote Masca region.
At 6:22 am, Jay posted his Snapchat location to his friends, followed by a final clip from outside the Airbnb at 7:21 am. In other messages, he sent a video saying he had just taken a “12k rolly,” referring to a stolen Rolex watch, and claimed to have grabbed two knives in case “it all kicks off.” However, the coroner later ruled these messages were not relevant and were likely examples of Jay showing off.
According to his smartwatch, Jay began walking away from the Airbnb at 8 am, turning right into the mountains. He called his friend Bradley a few minutes later to say he was attempting to walk home. At 8:32 am, he called another friend, Lucy Law, saying he needed water and was frightened. He also mentioned he had cut his leg on a cactus.
A final 22-second call took place at 8:50 am, during which Jay told Lucy that his phone was at 1% battery, he was lost, and all he could see were the mountains.
Recalling the moment she was informed her son was missing, Ms. Duncan told The Times that she received a call from Lucy at around 3:30 pm, and her legs “turned to jelly.” The family decided to immediately fly to Tenerife.
Shortly after, Ms. Duncan received an anonymous WhatsApp message that read: “I’ll give you one warning. Your son won’t be coming back. He owes me enough f***ing G money.”
In the following weeks, Jay’s disappearance became the subject of social-media-fuelled conspiracy theories. The family was bombarded with pranks, cruel messages, and allegations that Jay was still alive and being tortured. They also faced criticism over a GoFundMe campaign that raised money for the search efforts and later for Jay’s funeral.
Ms. Duncan stated, “They dehumanised my child and if there is one thing he deserved, it was the best. It was the last thing we ever did for him. I am not ashamed of using that money for his funeral.”
Jay’s body was discovered on 15 July above a dry stream bed. The coroner ruled that he had fallen 65-80 feet, suffering fatal fractures to his skull and pelvis.
For his mother, the inquest provided some closure as it confirmed his death was caused accidentally by a fall.
“I think he saw the sea and went into the ravine heading for that. He could see the sea from the balcony of his hotel. Maybe he thought he could walk around back to his hotel? Nobody else was involved in his death, no. That’s what I think,” she said.
The Disappearance of Jay Slater airs next Sunday at 9 pm on Channel 4.
https://ca.news.yahoo.com/jay-slater-sent-warning-friend-104121506.html
