Jay Slater's mum says TV detective's comments have 'knocked her back a million steps'

Jay Slater, 19, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire, disappeared during a party holiday in Tenerife on June 17. His body was found on July 15

The mother of the late Jay Slater has fiercely criticised a former detective for exacerbating her suffering by discussing his role in the case online, stating that his actions have "knocked her back a million steps". Jay Slater, a 19-year-old apprentice bricklayer from Lancashire, disappeared while on a festival holiday in Tenerife on 17 June.

Sadly, his body was found on 15 July close to the village of Masca, near where he was last seen. Mark Williams-Thomas, the ex-detective who had offered assistance to the family during their search, has recently become vocal about the case, suggesting another update might come 'soon'.

However, Jay's mother, Debbie Duncan, has implored him to desist from further involvement.

Speaking to MailOnline, she conveyed her anguish: "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."

"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.", reports the Manchester Evening News.

"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."

"I initially thought he might be onto something, but now I'm starting to think it's just a publicity stunt, as all it's done is bring back all the blasted TikTokers, who never really went away, which is even more tragic," according to a Mirror report. Preliminary post-mortem findings suggested Jay's death was likely due to a "fall or plunge from height", with multiple fractures, as confirmed by the Civil Guard.

However, on Monday, Mr Williams-Thomas posted a video on social media platform X, discussing his close work with Jay's family and his efforts to gather significant evidence, including information from potential witnesses, Jay's acquaintances, and indirectly from officials. He stated that although he always believed Jay's death was a 'tragic accident', there were other updates on Jay's movements before he vanished that have not yet been revealed.

He said: "I worked very closely with the family and as a result of that, got a lot of information, but also a lot of information from potential witnesses, people involved, people who knew Jay and also the authorities in a roundabout way."

"One of the things that's very clear is there is a huge amount of misinformation. I've been back and looked through some of the videos I took when I went out there, in relation to my investigation and thought processes whilst the investigation was going on."

"You find information out, you look at that, and then a couple of days later that information changes or is evidenced in some way. Some of the information that came to me in the early days wasn't accurate and wasn't correct and I needed to validate it."

He confessed that he has yet to disclose 'considerable issues that existed' and the reasons behind Jay's abrupt departure and reluctance to return, but suggested they might be made public 'when the time is right'. "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. And maybe the time will be right soon to be able to do that, but not right now," he explained.