Jay Slater petition to banish cruel social media conspiracies is submitted to MPs

It was a case which made every parent shudder - a teenage son who vanished on his first holidayabroad.

But for Debbie Duncan, the pain of losing 19-year-old Jay Slater was made infinitely worse by a second wave of cruelty - an avalanche of lies, conspiracies and online abuse that turned her private grief into public torture.

As she and her family searched desperately for 19-year-old Jay, who went missing abroad in Spain, they were bombarded with falsehoods - fake CCTV clips, doctored videos, wild speculation about kidnappings and worse.

Even after Jay’s body was found, the torrent of conspiracy theories only intensified, with strangers online even accusing the grieving mother or murdering her own son.

On Monday, speaking exclusively to the Mirror ahead of a Channel 4 documentary about Jay’s death, Debbie called for a new ‘Jay’s Law’ to stop armchair detectives from spreading misinformation online about missing people and, as in Jay's case, their subsequent deaths.

And yesterday she received a vital boost after her local MP Sarah Smith launched a campaign demanding that tech platforms be legally required to remove malicious falsehoods targeting bereaved relatives - whether from UK-based accounts or those overseas.

A new e-petition was also submitted to the House of Commons calling on the government to introduce legislation to protect bereaved families. The petition will be live for the public to sign soon.

Debbie says she is “first and foremost a mother who lost her son”.

She says: “That pain is unbearable on its own. But on top of my grief, I have been the victim of an organised network of conspiracy theorists that spread false stories and coordinated lies about Jay, his family and his friends. It is relentless.

READ MORE: Jay Slater's mum fights tears on live TV after horrific accusation

“Instead of being able to focus on grieving for my son, I have spent so much of my time and energy trying to protect myself and my family from those lies.

“Every day brings new claims and new videos that are designed to get attention at my expense. It is exhausting and it has made the worst chapter of my life even harder.”

Sarah Smith, Labour MP for Hyndburn and Haslingden, says: “What happened to Jay was every parent’s worst nightmare.

“Debbie is not only grieving the loss of her son but has also been hit by an avalanche of lies and organised misinformation about her family. She has been targeted and retraumatised at the very moment she should have been given the space to grieve.

“No one should have to endure that. Debbie does not deserve this. It is wrong that people can exploit a tragedy to grow their platforms and benefit from someone else’s pain.

“That is why I’m standing with her to campaign for Jay’s Law. This is about basic decency online, making sure grief is not turned into content that targets vulnerable families.”

Jay’s family was thrust into the national spotlight in June 2024 during a month-long search for the apprentice bricklayer, after he disappeared on his first holiday without his parents in Tenerife.

The teenager, who was away with friends, had attended the NRG musical festival on June 17 when he took a lift with two men he'd met, heading north to the remote village of Masca.

The plan was to return to his accommodation in Los Cristianos, but Jay missed a bus and informed friends by phone in the early morning that he was lost in the mountains, dehydrated, with just 1% battery left.

For 29 days, rescue crews, volunteer groups, the Civil Guard and mountain rescue teams scoured the rugged terrain of Rural de Teno and around Masca.

Finally, on July 15, 2024, Jay’s remains were discovered in a ravine near the last place his phone signal was traced.

Jay had clearly got lost in treacherous terrain and fell to his death, but that didn’t stop the viral frenzy of armchair detectives from speculating about his fate.

Speaking on BBC Breakfast yesterday (Thurs), Debbie said: “It was just unbelievable. We were out there, we were desperate and then all this misinformation.

“And then when we found Jay it just blew up even more and to this day it’s still going on.

“There was a different story every day, we were getting sent videos, CCTV footage that clearly wasn’t Jay. And then when the facts were out there people didn’t want to believe the truth.

“We were a desperate family and then when we found Jay we were a grieving family. We didn’t feel like there was any sympathy there from these people, they just sensationalised it all online. I even got accused of murdering my own child at some point.

“"It was just unbelievable, I think I just had a breakdown."

Annaliese Edwards, the director of the new Channel 4 documentary, said she had never seen anything like it.

She said: “It’s horrendous, the things the family has been accused of. There are millions and millions of posts out there. I’ve been really shocked by it all.”

Debbie’s is not the only grieving family to have experienced an avalanche of conspiracy theories.

The family of toddler Ben Needham has endured decades of speculation and cruel false leads, since the 21-month-old vanished on the Greek island of Kos in 1991.

Ben’s mum Kerry has often spoken of the additional agony caused by baseless theories and opportunists chasing attention.

In 2007, Madeleine McCann’s disappearance sparked one of the most notorious conspiracy storms in modern times. Her parents, Kate and Gerry, were vilified online and falsely accused by complete strangers.

Even as police investigations continued, the internet was awash with malicious speculation - much of it amplified by viral videos and forums that thrived on their suffering.

Olly Stephens, 13, was fatally stabbed near his home in Reading, Berkshire, in January 2021, by two boys, aged 13 and 14 - having been lured to a field by a 13-year-old girl. Swirling rumours shared online that a girl had placed a bounty of more than £150 on him were debunked as ‘fake news’ by police.

More recently, the tragic death of Nicola Bulley in 2023 saw social media sleuths descend on her Lancashire village, livestreaming from the riverbank and spinning endless theories about what had happened.

Lancashire Police condemned the wave of “conspiracy theories, false information and speculation” which hampered their investigation and tormented Nicola’s grieving loved ones.