Sick trolls have branded missing Jay Slater's distraught mum the "new Karen Matthews". Debbie is in Tenerife with the search now into its seventh day but she has not been able to bring herself to go to the location where Jay was last seen in the north west of the island.
She said: “People keep asking on social media ‘why aren’t I up there?’ and calling me the new Karen Matthews. I just can’t face it.” Speaking from the hotel where the family are staying, Debbie added she is still waiting for more news from the police and heard nothing fresh on Saturday.
Debbie said: “I’m just exhausted. I’m still hopeful. I’m not feeling negative just yet. I know it’s five days. It’s not just that they’ve said absolutely not. I don’t know what it’s been like today because I’ve been advised to stay away because I would just break down.
READ MORE Jay Slater dad says 'that doesn't make sense' and rules out theory over disappearance
“My boy might be just up there somewhere. We’re all devastated. He’s just a normal boy from a little town in Lancashire. These things don’t happen. I was in touch with him while he is in Tenerife. He was just holidaying away, he’d saved up and was looking forward to it. I’ve not slept for five days. My brain isn’t functioning well and I’m tired and exhausted.”
"I’m not coping very well at all. I’ve not slept, I’m exhausted. It’s been awful. I can’t give up on him, I just can’t." She also said she did not know whether the Spanish authorities turning down an offer of help from the UK was because they viewed it as “an insult”," Debbie said.
Questioned on whether the Spanish authorities should have accepted help from Lancashire Constabulary, Ms Duncan said: “I believe they said they’ve got enough resources and they don’t need the help from English police. I don’t know if they find it an insult – I really don’t know. I really don’t know.
"They say they’ve got enough resources to get on with the investigation… I don’t know, I don’t know.”
