Jay Slater's mother denies her son was involved with a drug cartel in Tenerife

Jay Slater’s mother has insisted her son was not involved with a drug cartel in Tenerife and didn’t steal a £12,000 Rolex watch.

Debbie Duncan has criticised internet trolls for sharing what she says are false stories about Jay.

The 19-year-old, who was visiting the island with friends for a music festival, went missing on June 17.

After an extensive search, his body was found four weeks later down a rocky ravine in the Rural de Teno park with traumatic head injuries consistent with a fall from height.

Now people posting online say Jay stole a Rolex watch from a gangster on Tenerife, was embroiled with the local drug cartel and even hopped onboard a yacht bound for Morrocco.

But Debbie, 56, told The Sun: ‘He would never have been involved in anything like that.

‘He had only been in Tenerife three days – and was at a festival with friends which had wristbands, security and an itinerary.

A picture of teenager Jay Slater in a nightclub in the early hours of the day he vanished — Jay in a nightclub in the early hours of the day he vanished (Picture: Simon Ashton)

Screengrab taken from PA Video of the coffin of Jay Slater being carried into Accrington Cemetery Chapel in Lancashire, ahead of his funeral, after he died while on holiday in Tenerife in June. Picture date: Saturday August 10, 2024. PA Photo. See PA story FUNERAL Slater. Photo credit should read: Acacia Redding/PA Wire — Jay’s funeral, with his mum Debbie pictured behind the coffin (Picture: Acacia Redding/PA Wire)

Jay’s loved-ones asked that instead of flowers people donate to LBT Global, the overseas crisis support charity that helped his family through their heartache.

Sadly the funeral was targeted by online scammers who wrongly claimed people could pay to watch it streaming live, the MailOnline reports.

Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, vanished, left the NRG music festival he had flown to the island to attend the night before he went missing.