Jay Slater's mother has hit back at 'disgusting' online trolls after the family were bombarded with over 30million videos speculating about the case.

Debbie Duncan, 57, is now calling for a law change to tackle the spread of misinformation and online abuse during the investigation into a missing persons case.

Jay's disappearance in June 2024 sparked a massive manhunt across Tenerife but also a torrent of conspiracy theories and trolls who made completely unevidenced claims about what had happened to him and even abused his relatives and friends.

Conspiracy theorists were quick to make false claims such as that his disappearance was a 'revenge attack' for his past behaviour and even questioned Ms Duncan's own behaviour asking why she wasn't visibly more upset.

The 19-year-old's body was discovered four weeks after he disappeared in a remote area near Masca.

But even after this discovery and an inquest earlier this year that found he died on June 17, 2024 with injuries on his body consistent with a 'heavy fall from height', online sleuths have continued to put forward fabricated claims about the case.

In total over 30 million videos speculating about the case have since appeared online.

Debbie Duncan with her son Jay Slater. She is now calling for a law change to tackle the spread of misinformation and online abuse during the investigation into a missing persons case

Jay Slater, 19, was found dead around four weeks after disappearing while on holiday with friends in Tenerife in June last year

In the first days after his disappearance, Ms Duncan was immediately subjected to harassment over the phone and online.

She said: 'Well at the beginning I didn't look online and I was contacting Lucy [Jay's friend who was on holiday with him]. I didn't even think of checking who would have known it would have blown up.

'Me and Zac [Jay's brother] walked out of the airport and I got a WhatsApp message saying "kiss your son goodbye he owes us money".

'I was ringing the number back but no one answered.'

Mrs Duncan continued to receive similar messages after her phone was printed on a missing person's poster for Jay.

On top of this, a Facebook group set up by concerned family and friends gained traction online and soon became rife with speculation about the case.

'A friend who'd flown out, Jay's friend Brad's mum, came out and set up a the page appealing for information,' Ms Duncan said.

'And then that was bombarded with all kinds of conspiracy theories videos of people saying is that a body and there were voices saying he said he wasn't going to be stabbed.

Jay's disappearance in June 2024 sparked a massive manhunt across the popular holiday destination but also a torrent of conspiracy theories and trolls who made completely unevidenced claims about what had happened to him

'Footage of Jay in the club and that got put out all over social media and then there was a video from the festival of his friends that got out saying he'd dropped a bag and it was full of drugs.

Jay Slater's mother fights back tears as she reveals online trolls accused her of murdering her son

'And you're like what is going on, you're going down all these rabbit holes as well.'

Trolls even brought up Jay's previous, unrelated, involvement in a gang attack three years prior to his disappearance.

She said: 'Obviously they'd found out Jay's past they claimed it was a revenge attack and they analysed all the footage.

Ms Duncan even found her own behaviour come under scrutiny with conspiracy theorist blaming her for the disappearance.

Speaking to the Daily T podcast she said: 'I've seen content creators did you notice there was no tears coming out of Debbie's eyes.

'Every little move was absolutely broken down and sensationalised into what they wanted to believe. But I was just focused on finding Jay.'

Ms Duncan added that even volunteers in Tenerife who worked tirelessly to try and find Jay were 'ripped to pieces online'.

As it approached four weeks since his disappearance, Jay's loved ones were left desperate for any leads were 'going down so many rabbit holes' in their search for answers.

Even after the family were notified that a body had been found this was not enough to shut down speculation online.

Ms Duncan said: 'They were saying that 29 days he was in the heat there wouldn't be anything left of him. I was even looking at how bodies decompose because you're like are they right.

The chilling unsent message from Jay Slater as he desperately tried to reach safety in Tenerife

'It's misinformation and deep down they do realise that but they've got this importance of sitting here calling themselves content creators when it's not backed up with facts.

Reflecting on her experience she said: 'It really opened my eyes to the dark side of social media and the same content creators and one will do a video and the others will jump on it as well.

'The comments were disgusting.'

Now, Ms Duncan is working with her local MP, Sarah Smith, to put forward a law change to tackle the spread of misinformation and online abuse during the investigation into a missing persons case.

She said: 'I've had a lot of support from my local mp and I've been down to parliament and chatted to Sarah. She's set up a meeting with the Secretary of State for online safety and we've got a petition that we're waiting for it to be authorised in parliament.

'It's just about protecting vulnerable families and were not the first to suffer at the hands of social media.

'Ofcom regulates tv but online there's nothing so it's about either changing the law or creating a new law through legislation about the misinformation that gets spread online.

'I get loads of messages and you report it and it doesn't get removed. We'd like them to swiftly remove misinformation and there is reports with police and it takes time and I ring and ask for an updates and they say no.

'People say stay off social media but it's difficult in this day and age.'

Social media companies have previously stated they would remove misinformation that was likely to contribute to the risk of imminent physical harm or interference.

Jay Slater's mother says troll comments 'were disgusting'