Jay Slater's 'biggest mistake' on night he died after vanishing on Tenerife holiday

A journalist has retraced the final steps of tragic teenager Jay Slater, who tragically died while on holiday in Tenerife, and claims the 19 year old made one fatal mistake.

Jay, from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was enjoying his first holiday without his parents when he disappeared after a night out in July last year.

The young man had been partying before heading to an Airbnb in the village of Masca on the Spanish island with two men he had met during his holiday.

He later phoned his friend Lucy Law to say he was lost and then told another friend, Bradley Geoghegan, that he had missed a bus and was walking home - a trek of 14 km back to his accommodation in Los Cristianos.

At his inquest in July, Coroner Dr James Adeley ruled that Jay "died an accidental death" after falling into a remote ravine in the Rural de Teno national park. His body was discovered by a mountain rescue team on July 15 last year, 29 days after he went missing, reports Manchester Evening News.

Toxicology reports revealed that Jay had ecstasy, cocaine, ketamine and alcohol in his system at the time of his death.

Since his disappearance, there have been numerous conspiracy theories about what Jay was doing at the Airbnb and what happened to him, but one journalist who retraced his footsteps has revealed the teenager made one fatal error.

Writing in the Sunday Times, David Collins said: "I walked the same route Jay walked, from the door of the Airbnb, turning left up a snaking mountain road into treacherous terrain. This was Jay's biggest mistake.

"If he had turned right and walked down the hill, it would have left him back to civilisation, via a mountain village with cafes, buses and taxis. At some point he walked off-road and down into a ravine."

Jay's devastated mum Debbie Duncan has voiced her concerns that conspiracy theories surrounding his death hindered the police investigation whilst misleading footage kept appearing online.

Speaking to the Sunday Times, she revealed: "My son was completely dehumanised. All of it was completely wrong.

"He was just a young lad loving life, who went to Tenerife with his friends to have a good time. Somewhere along the line people lost sight of that."

The Disappearance of Jay Slater broadcasts on Channel 4 next Sunday (September 28) at 9pm.

Alongside Jay's father Warren, 59, and elder brother Zak, 25, she granted TV producers extraordinary access to Jay's story and the family.

The programme will showcase intimate home footage plus coverage from within Jay's funeral whilst cameras were also permitted into his post-mortem.

Debbie revealed to the Daily Mirror: "I wanted this documentary to be made because I want to show Jay is a real person and not just the face of a story.

"I want to show everyone we are a normal family. Jay was a popular guy with a lot of friends and it's been hard to watch it. I cried all the way through, but I hope it will finally shut down the armchair detectives. It's been very well put together."