The mother of Jay Slater, the British teenager who died while on holiday in Tenerife, says she has been “terrorised” by internet trolls since her son’s disappearance.
Slater, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle near Accrington in Lancashire, disappeared after attending a music festival with friends on the holiday island in June. The 19-year-old’s body was found about a month later in a ravine close to where he was last seen and an autopsy found he had died after an accidental fall.
His mother, Debbie Duncan, 56, said she had faced online harassment even after her son’s death. “I don’t even have the words to describe how sick these individuals are,” she told the Sun. “I have been terrorised by trolls.”
Conspiracy theories and false information spread rapidly online after Slater went missing. Duncan had to deny rumours her son had stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch and had attracted the wrath of a drug cartel.
She was also contacted directly by some people and was sent mocked-up images, including a fake picture of her son being tortured. “The first week was all a blur,” she said. “I was in a hotel room in Tenerife and looking for Jay – and I was getting terrorised by trolls.”
Duncan and her son Zac have compiled details of those who did not hide their numbers; while many were based in the UK, some messages came from as far away as Australia and the US.
“There were calls with people saying: ‘We know where Jay is, he’s done this, he’s done that,’” she said. “Some were from people screaming Jay’s name or saying he had been stabbed on a beach. And, oh, my God, the stories, they were just unreal. Absolutely unreal. People were saying: ‘He’s in a hole, he’s chained up.’
“It was just disgusting, absolutely disgusting. I wouldn’t wish it upon anybody, the torment that I’ve had to go through, and that I’m still going through.”
She said the family were “sucked into” some of the conspiracy theories, clinging on to any hope Slater was still alive.
The abuse had not stopped even after his funeral, she said. She recently received a handwritten note in the post that said: “What will you do with all that money?” A GoFundMe page was set up while her son was missing that raised more than £72,000, which Duncan said had fuelled more trolling.
“We have had all these people slagging me off about a GoFundMe that I didn’t ask for,” she said, adding: “The only things it’s been used for are some accommodation costs, the dog team that came over – and some repatriation costs which are still ongoing.
“I have been speaking to GoFundMe virtually every day and they have been amazing and so supportive.”
