Debbie Duncan has branded the move by Jay Slater’s friend Stephen Roccas – known as Rocky – as “sick” following her son’s death on the Canary Island in the summer of 2024
Jay Slater’s mum has blasted a bizarre new video taken by one of the last people to see her son – taken outside the very cottage where he was last seen alive.
Debbie Duncan described the footage, recorded by Stephen Roccas – known as Rocky – as “sick” amid a flurry of criticism the Brit has faced this week for posting it on social media. He has returned to Tenerife, where Jay died in June 2024, and took the nine-second clip outside the rental cottage in Masca, a rural mountainous area of the island.
Dressed in a West Ham football shirt, Roccas pans across the same mountain view Jay, 19, saw before he vanished, adding only the caption: “Views” – along with two fire emojis and one of a mountain. It comes less than six weeks after Stephen refused to give evidence Jay’s inquest, which recorded a verdict of accidental death. There were several attempts to serve Stephen with a witness summons but he declined to take part.
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And the man has faced a further backlash for the video. One social media follower wrote: “What ya trying to prove Rocky? This is bad taste?” while another added: “This is a bit sick.”
In response to the video, Ms Duncan said: “What is he trying to do? Rub our noses in it? Why has he even gone back there? What for? What’s he trying to prove? I don’t understand it.
“I would love to ask him some questions but I can’t as the inquest is over and it’s all done. But I really would like to know why he’s back there. I hope people start asking questions of him. The last year has been hell for us.”
Last summer, Jay had been invited to the AirBnB by Stephen, and convicted drug dealer Ayub Qassim, 31, and spent the night with them at the rural rental in Masca. The next morning, Jay, an apprentice bricklayer, vanished into the wilderness, a gorge in which his body was found by rescue teams almost a month later.
Ms Duncan expressed her fury at the new clip, showing the remote countryside in which her son disappeared. She suggested Stephen is trying “to rub our (her family’s) noses in it” around 14 months after the tragedy.
Unlike Stephen, Ayub did appear for the inquest at Preston Crown Court. Speaking in relation to Stephen, Coroner Dr James Adeley had said: “He is doing this of his own volition. As he is abroad, I cannot compel him to give evidence.”
It is understood police attempted to serve Stephen with a witness summons at several addresses in London and Manchester, but were unable to locate him.