'Say or stay out of it': Jay Slater's mum hits out at TV detective after he claimed to know real reason he left Airbnb

16 October 2024, 06:37 | Updated: 16 October 2024, 07:56

Jay Slater's mum has hit out at a TV detective after he claimed to know the real reason her son left an Airbnb just hours before his death.

The apprentice bricklayer, from Oswaldtwistle, vanished on a three-day holiday for a music festival with friends.

His body was found after a month-long search just a few metres from his last known location.

Former police office turned TV investigator Mark Williams-Thomas has since claimed an answer on how Jay came to be lost in the mountainous Tenerife area could be revealed soon.

In a post to X, formerly Twitter, he said: "Maybe, when the time is right, I will reveal those.

"I've got to be very careful. What I don't want to do is upset the family with any more trauma than they have already had and so it would be something I would work very closely with Debbie and the family on to reveal that information."

Read more: TV detective claims he knows the real reason why Jay Slater left Airbnb for ill-feted final journey

Read more: Jay Slater's dad explains what happened in hunt for him in new TikTok videos

Jay's mother, Debbie Duncan, responded to the video, claiming Mr Williams-Thomas was seeking publicity over her son's death.

She said his comments had sparked more comments from trolls.

"If he knows something I wish he would say it, otherwise people will think it's just publicity and it's not doing me any good," she told MailOnline.

"I'm still in bits here, I'm having counselling, and it doesn't get any easier, I couldn't sleep at all last night because after he posted what he did it on his social media just kicked off all the trolls again.

Read More: Timeline of Jay Slater's disappearance: Everything we know as remains are found 29 days after he went missing

"Losing Jay was hard enough but then having to read what some people are writing is torture, I'm not good really and I would be lying if I said I was alright, the last few hours have just been awful.

"What he said has knocked me back a million steps, I just wish he would say what he knows or just stay out of it, we last spoke a few weeks ago briefly because I wanted to clear some things up.

"It was nothing untoward, I just wanted to refresh my brain because I couldn't remember much from the first couple of weeks as you saw what I was like, I had just lost the plot, my son was missing, and I wanted to find him."

Ms Duncan added: "There was nothing really new, I just wanted to go over some things and he said if I remembered anything to give me a call and that was it, now it's all over the news again and it's really knocked me.

"I thought for a second he might have something but now I'm thinking it might just be a PR stunt as all it's done is that it's got all the bloody TikTokers back and they have never really stopped which is even sadder.

"I try to avoid it but then I think I will have a little look and it knocks me back because they just go over the same stuff but I'm not biting on what he's saying, I don't know why he's said what he did.

"I didn't sleep last night and I'm going through enough as it is. He's put this on his socials but he hasn't backed it up, if he knows anything then he should say.

Read More: Live updates: Body found in Jay Slater hunt - Police recover young man's remains from village cliffside

"There's a lot of people saying 'what's he got?' or 'what's he found?' so that's why I'm saying if he has anything he should.

"There is only one person who really knows what happened and he's not here to tell us what happened, that's why everything is just speculation.

"I still think speaking to his friends at the time, Jay just wanted to carry on partying and he left but like I say there's only one person who knows, although I'd like to know more from the guy who was at the Airbnb."