Our hearts are broken' police believe Jay died plunging down ravine

THE MOTHER of Jay Slater has said her family's "hearts are broken" after Tenerife officials confirmed the "worst news" that a body found is her son's.

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A Spanish court said yesterday that fingerprint analysis proved beyond doubt that it was Jay, 19 and that his injuries suggested he plunged down a rocky ravine.

Afterwards his grief-stricken mum Debbie Duncan, 55, said: "I just can't believe it we're here with the embassy staff waiting for an update and now it's come - the worst news.

"I just can't believe this could happen to my beautiful boy. Our hearts are broken." She is in Tenerife with her older son Zak, 24, and Jay's father Warren Slater, 54.

Vanished

Before the confirmation by the Canary Islands High Court of Justice, a spokesman for Jay's relatives said: "The whole family is absolutely broken. They are devastated. It's not the outcome they were hoping for.

"Initially they thought how could he be so close and yet be missed but now, having seen the location, they appreciate the remoteness of it and there is no criticism of the search.

"It looks as if he fell from a height, so he would most likely have been killed instantly.

"Repatriation should be within a week or so - it's all time dependent."

Jay, an apprentice bricklayer from Oswaldtwistle, Lancs, had jetted to Tenerife with his friends Lucy Law and Brad Hargreaves for his first holiday without his parents.