A charity boss has slammed trolls who attacked Jay Slater’s mother after she appealed for more public donations to help give the teenager ‘the send-off he deserves’ following his tragic death in Tenerife.

Debbie Duncan was criticised after she released a statement, thanking those who had donated to the GoFundMe appeal set up to try and help find her 19-year-old son after he went missing.

With the online appeal having so far raised more than £62,000, she urged people to carry on supporting the fundraiser with any extra money going to pay towards her son’s funeral costs. 

As she and other family members were pictured leaving a church on the Spanish holiday island, Debbie faced a storm of online comments from people accusing her of using the money to ‘line her pockets’, ‘set her up for life’ or even to ‘cover her duty free’.

Matthew Searle, the chief executive of the overseas crisis support charity LBT Global who is in Tenerife supporting Jay’s family released a new statement slamming the ‘hateful abuse’ of them.

He spoke out after was found on Monday at the bottom of a remote ravine nearly four weeks after he fell to his death in the north of the Spanish holiday island while trying to walk back to his accommodation.

Mr Searle said: ‘Today again we are seeing vast amounts of hateful content online, regarding the family asking for more donations to help give Jay a really good send off.

‘This hate comes from people who, I assume, have never had to repatriate a deceased loved one. Those costs can top £20k easily.

‘These people probably haven’t had to arrange their own child’s funeral, nor felt the need to make it the biggest and best they can as it’s the last thing they’ll ever do for their child.

‘The search and rescue charities that have helped the family have had donations and costs covered. The accommodation to keep the family there waiting for news and doing what they can has been covered.

‘They are very kindly making a donation to us for the support we have given, support which is outside of that we are funded to do.

‘When you add that up there is very little spare from £60k. Certainly not enough to ‘line her pockets’, ‘set her up for life’ or even ‘cover her duty free’.

‘I have removed many hateful and indeed slanderous comments today. It means I can’t be helping other families right now. It has to stop.

‘To those out there who feel the same way about these vile comments, report them. Thanks for your support.’

Ms Duncan made her comments about funding shortly before volunteers from the Dutch search organisation Signi Zoekhondon pinpointed the exact spot where her son died and took videos of the scene to try and bring comfort to his family.

Her statement on Jay’s GoFundMe page said: ‘Hello everyone, thank you for all of your kindness, support and condolences in light of the tragic news that Jay’s body has been found.

‘We are overwhelmed with grief and are so grateful for your support. The wonderful team from The Netherlands, Signi Zoekhondon, have remained in Spain all week and have continued to support us since Jay was found.

‘They are due to fly home in the coming days and we are so appreciative of their dedication and support. We would like to thank LBT Global for their support during this impossible time.

‘We are working with agencies to arrange Jay’s repatriation to the UK and the remaining funds, along with any future donations will be used to help with this if needed and to pay for Jay’s funeral costs back home.

‘We want to give our boy the send-off he deserves so please do continue to share and support our fundraiser however you can.’

Jay from Oswaldtwistle in Lancashire vanished on June 17following a night out on the final day of the NRG music festival at Papagayo night club in the resort of Playa de las Americas.

He had left his friends and went off with two men who drove him back to their Airbnb accommodation on the outskirts of the village of Masca, around 20 miles away.

While in the car, he sent a Snapchat message to his friends boasting that he had just stolen a £12,000 Rolex watch from a reveller and was going to sell it for £10,000.

He later shared a photo on his Snapchat account, which showed him standing at the doorway of a house shortly after 7am.

Around an hour later, he called his friend Lucy Law, telling her that he was ‘lost in the mountains with one per cent battery and no water’ and had missed a bus back south to his accommodation in Los Cristianos.

He claimed he had set off on foot to try and get back to his accommodation, despite it being around 11 hours away.

MailOnline later found a witness who revealed that he had walked north out of the village, instead of taking the winding road south towards Los Cristianos.

It is believed that he may have decided that it was quicker for him to find the coast and walk back along it, rather than trek along the winding road back through the mountains.

They have claimed that he may have left the road and headed down a track into the Baranco Juan Lopez valley after catching a glimpse of the sea in the distance.

But he would have found the path coming to an abrupt end after half a mile, leading to him scrambling down a slope before reaching the rocky outcrops of the ravine at the end of the valley nearest the coastline.

Jay’s grieving mother, father Warren and brother Zak Slater were spotted outside a church in the town of Santiago del Teide, just a few miles from where his body was recovered.

All three of Jay’s loved ones who flew out just days after Jay disappeared are staying in Tenerife while they wait to accompany the teenager’s body home.

Spanish authorities have identified the body which was found by a local police search team on Monday as being Jay, using fingerprint evidence. They say he had injuries consistent with a fall from a height.

Esther Van Neerbos, the founder of the Signi Zoekhonden team wo is working closely with Jay’s family today described the agony, saying they were ‘crying, crying, crying.’

She and two other volunteers from her team spent five hours trekking in and out of the ravine where his body was found, taking videos to give to Jay’s family in order to bring them some comfort.

Her three-year-old Belgian Malinois dog called Flex used his powerful nose to sniff out the spot where Jay died in thick vegetation at the base of the ravine at the end of the valley.

The dog also found the teenager’s scent on the path leading into the valley, despite it being more than a month since he disappeared.

Ms Van Neerbos said Jay’s body was found 300 yards into the ravine.

Describing the spot, she said: ‘There are cliffs either side which are quite high. He was probably walking through, but the bushes become very thick and he might not have been able to get through them

‘He may have tried to climb up one of the cliffs to get round, but it is very dangerous. Maybe he stumbled and fell.

‘His body fell into the bushes. We did shots of the whole area because we wanted to make movies for the family, so they know how his last day was.

‘There was a stream going through the bushes with water in it. I think he was just trying to get to the sea so he could walk back to where he was staying.

There are a lot of bushes where he fell. It explains how he might not have been seen by a helicopter.’

Ms Van Neerbos said she was in touch with Jay’s parents, and would be keeping them updated with her findings.

She added: ‘It is very sad. They are crying, crying, crying. Losing a boy is the worst thing you can think about.

‘Every case is sad, but losing a child is always difficult for a mother. The worst thing is to find the body of a child.’

Ms Van Neerbos said Jay’s family had spoken about wanting to visit the spot where he died so they could lay flowers in his memory, but she told them it was ‘too dangerous’.

She described the apprentice bricklayer as ‘a very tough guy’ for managing to walk so far into the rugged volcanic landscape

Ms Van Neerbos said: ‘He went a long way. I could not believe how far he had gone, after he had two parties and not really sleeping.

‘It was very good that the rescue workers found him. It was very difficult and they did a good job.’

Jay’s family had travelled to Tenerife in the hope of finding him alive, with Warren and Zak pictured aiding searches in the valley.

Instead of bringing him home alive, the grief-stricken clan have instead left floral tributes to him with messages describing him as a ‘beautiful boy’ and ‘forever young’.

Bunches of white chrysanthemums and roses were left earlier this week beside a large rock on a path overlooking the ravine where his body was found.

A handwritten message from his mother attached with a blue peg to one of the bouquets said: ‘To my beautiful boy. I’m so sorry we never found you. I miss you so much. You will be forever young and forever missed. Love you so much, Mum’.

Another moving message pegged to a post by Jay’s father Walter Slater read: ‘To my Boy, Love Dad, Always, XXXX’.

A third handwritten message from Jay’s brother Zak written in faltering handwriting was attached to a single white rose.

It read: ‘Love you little bro. Never in a million years did I think I’d be doing this. I’ll look after mum and dad. Hope you’re partying up there with granddad. Hope to see you again some day. Rest easy bro, I love you, Zak XX’.

The memorial also includes a teddy bear wearing an England football shirt, a tiny angel with a jewelled crucifix and a red jar with a candle.

Members of the Signi Zoekhonden team started their hunt for Jay on Monday morning, little more than an hour before his body was found by police.

Marieke Krans, a volunteer with the team, confirmed that a dog called Snelle, a three-year-old sister of Flex, picked up the scent of Jay on Monday morning in the valley leading towards the ravine.

She said that the dog Flex was used in today’s more detailed search to confirm the findings of Snelle.

Ms Krans said Flex was trained to follow track down live or dead people on land or in water, and would bark when he picked up a scent.

She added: ‘You have to learn to watch the dogs. You can see the way they smell because they walk with their noses down. Sometimes they go back and forward

‘We are trying to make a record for the family to get some answers for them, as there are still some questions left. We wanted to try to figure things out because it is not completely clear. We want to find some proof for them.’