Jay Slater was allegedly involved in a criminal gang of eight people, which carried out a violent machete attack against a man in Lancashire back in 2021
A gang Jay Slater was involved in left a man with his “skull split open”. The teen from Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, was 19 when he went missing in June last year, during a holiday in Tenerife with a group of friends.
His body was found in July of the same year, following a month-long search. Slater was found dead in a ravine in Tenerife’s Parque Rural de Teno on July 15, 2024, weeks after he went missing. After leaving the RG music festival in Playa de las Americas on June 17, he travelled with two men to an Airbnb in the national park area, 22 miles from where he had been staying with his friends.
Three years prior to his death, Slater was involved in a gang which attacked Tom Hilton, then 17, with a machete, golf clubs and an axe in Rishton, Lancashire. He was handed an 18-month community order, with 25 days of rehabilitation activities and 150 hours of unpaid work for his involvement in the attack.
Slater’s holiday to Tenerife took place after completing most of his sentence. In a new Channel 4 documentary exploring his disappearance and later death, Jay’s uncle has spoken out about his involvement in the violent attack.
“If somebody was asked the question, did you see Jay strike the person?” said Glen Duncan. He went on to add: “No – he was never that type of lad. He was just guilty by association because he was just part of a crowd.” Meanwhile, Jay’s mum, said she encouraged the then 17-year-old to go to the police, while saying he had no involvement in the attack.
She said: “This one night there was an incident where there were probably a couple of hundred people there, a lad, who was older, got attacked by what he described as 20 kids. They were appealing for witnesses, and I said to Jay, I think you should go and do a statement. I didn’t think anything of it, but the following April, a letter came through saying Jay was being charged with violent disorder.
“Jay attended the trial, and Tom stood up in court and said he didn’t remember much about it. But Jay was kind of found guilty by association, and I don’t think he struck a blow or harmed Tom.”
The victim, Tom, was left with parts of his skull exposed and serious wounds to his legs and shoulders. During the court proceedings at Preston Crown Court, the defendants laughed and joked with one another. Tom likened his attackers to “a pack of gorillas”.
Presiding judge, Judge Philip Parry, at the time said the gang acted like a “pack of wolves,” forcing the victim into nearby woodland where he ran for his life. He also called out the “disrespect” from the defendants.
In court, Judge Parry said: “You should all eight be thoroughly ashamed of yourselves but I am not at all convinced you are. Many of you have found these proceedings amusing throughout the trial and yesterday and today, showing disrespect to the court.
“I hope for the sake of all your families, the public and the people who have offered you jobs and apprenticeships and the sort that you all grow up.”
Despite sustaining significant injuries from the attack, Tom was quick to take to social media following Slater’s disappearance, to silence conspiracy theorists who had branded his disappearance a “scam”.
He said on social media: “Whoever is writing on these TikToks, give it a rest. This young lad’s missing and his family’s heartbroken. Put yourself in their shoes.
“Stop talking nonsense on social and get this lad found, mentioning my name all this and that. Have some respect and help find this boy and get him back to his family.” The new documentary also explores Slater’s final hours, which consisted of consuming illegal drugs.
In one heartbreaking scene, Jay’s mum is told that private details on Jay’s toxicology report have been stolen and leaked on YouTube. The devastated mum hits out as she refuses to get peace even after her son’s body is finally recovered. Jay’s mum is initially told the toxicology report had only been disclosed to her and wouldn’t be shared anywhere else – amid a sea of sickening conspiracies. But the contents were unveiled to the public in grim YouTube videos, which shared screenshots of the toxicology report, stating Jay’s full name – Jay Dean Slater.
“25th March 2025. In Tenerife, Spanish court documents are fraudulently leaked and published on YouTube,” the caption says, adding: “Including Jay’s Spanish toxicology reports.”
Speaking on the documentary, Jay’s mum says: “It’s just another kick in the teeth, but how is it even allowed? Official court documents, talking about our son, it’s lawless, ain’t it? There’s nothing we can do, we’re just powerless.”
It was revealed by Preston Coroner’s officer Alice Swarbrick that Jay’s body had traces of MDMA and cocaine in the hours prior to his death, but while there was evidence of the drugs in his system, this didn’t mean they formed part of the cause of his death. Jay’s mum explained that while it was a shock to her. “He’s a young adult and that’s what they do when they go to festivals, it’s not a shock, it’s just upsetting,” she said, adding that it was “upsetting the way he died.”
Later on, pathologist, Dr Richard Shepherd, explained that ruling out injuries inflicted by a third party was “a very, very important part of this investigation, as Jay had “not been shot, he’s not been stabbed, he’s not been strangled.”
“A major head injury at the side, how do we explain that?” before going on to state that Jay’s injuries are consistent with severe trauma to the head, which could have been a result of falling down a slope. He also stated that he couldn’t rule out the possibility of Jay being pushed, as the push would leave no marks.