Jay Slater’s family say ‘journey of trauma and grief will continue forever’

The family of teenager Jay Slater say their “journey of trauma and grief will continue forever”, but that they have decided to turn off donations from a fundraising page.
The 19-year-old, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, disappeared in June 2024 while on holiday in Tenerife, sparking a massive search of the island.
His remains were found near the village of Masca a month later, after he was reported missing following the Spanish island’s NRG music festival.
Mr Slater died after sustaining multiple injuries consistent with a fall in a rocky area. The Spanish Civil Guard said he could have fallen in the steep and inaccessible area where his body was discovered.
His family set up a GoFundMe page titled Get Jay Slater Home to help fund efforts to find him and received £72,821 before it was closed on 21 November 2024.
The final message posted on the page explained that the donations were spent on a search team from the Dutch non-profit organisation Signi Zoekhonden, and his family’s stay in Tenerife while efforts to locate Jay continued.
His family also said in the post that they were able to give him a “truly deserved… send-off” at his funeral in August.
The message, signed off by Mr Slater’s family and friends, read: “With your support we were able to stay in Tenerife until we got our beautiful boy back to the UK.
“We were able to fund the Signi search team from the Netherlands who supported us throughout the days when Jay was found.
“Jay truly deserved the send-off we were able to give him and we thank you all for that.
“We have been overwhelmed with messages of support from all over the globe and will be eternally grateful to all of you. Our journey of trauma and grief will continue forever and we will never recover.”
The message continued: “We lost our beautiful boy in extremely tragic circumstances whilst the world watched.
“We do not and will never understand how Jay’s story reached every corner of the globe. Our journey is far from over but the burdens eased with your support.
“We would also like to thank the person who looked after Jay’s fundraiser page whom we have been in constant contact with, especially whilst in Tenerife – the support and advice you gave will not be forgotten.
“Donations will be turned off with this final message. Jay’s family and friends are trying to come to terms and process this tragic loss and thank you from the bottom of our hearts.”
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