A BRITISH boy who was allegedly
kidnapped six years ago has been found alive and well in France.
Alex Batty, from Lancashire, was just 11 years old when he went missing during a family holiday in Spain in 2017.
Alex was travelling with his mum, Melanie and grandfather David when he was apparently abducted.
The mother and grandfather, who do not have parental guardianship of Alex, have not been located but remain wanted in connection with his disappearance.
And the three of them were expected to leave Marbella after just two weeks, but never returned.
Melanie and David Batty left Greater Manchester with Alex for a pre-agreed, week-long holiday to Marbella in Spain on 30 September 2017.
He was last seen at the Port of Malaga on 8 October, the day they were expected to return.
Cops launched an investigation into his disappearance, but until today he remained missing.
His grandmother and official guardian Susan Caruana, thought they might have adopted “an alternative lifestyle” in Morocco .
She said at the time: “They didn’t want [Alex] to go to school, they don’t believe in mainstream school.”
Prosecutors believe Alex, who is now 17, has been found in Revel near Toulouse, southern France.
A local newspaper reported on Thursday: “The Alex Batty mystery is about to be solved.
It said that while he didn’t show any official ID to police who questioned him, he was able to identify himself.
“His face and his story correspond in every way to that of the Briton kidnapped in 2017,” it went on.
Investigators reportedly think he fled a rural community living in the Pyrenees mountains on foot.
A local journalist told the BBC a delivery driver had spotted the boy walking along the road carrying a backpack and skateboard and, feeling sorry for him, picked him up.
“They spent three hours together in the car, and the boy told his story,” Remi Buhagiar of La Depeche newspaper said.
“He said he’d been living in a kind of itinerant commune. He wasn’t under any compulsion but he said he found his mother a bit weird and decided he didn’t want this kind of life, and that he wanted to set his own path – that’s why he decided to leave,” he added.
Alex had been walking through the hills for days, Mr Buhagiar explained.
“He asked the driver if he could borrow his phone and sent a message via Facebook to his grandmother, saying he was fine and wanted to see her. He was not sure if she got the message,” he said.
The driver, speaking to La Depeche, said it was raining heavily when he drove past Alex late at night. On the way back, he passed Alex again and made the decision to pull over and speak to the boy.
Fabien Accidini told the newspaper he had given Alex water as he had been walking for several days and was thirsty.
He said Alex was shy at first, but after establishing English as Alex’s native language, he said the pair spoke for some three hours.
The teen reportedly told the story of what had happened to him “serenely and calmly”.
Alex won’t say where his mother is or exactly where he had been living in the Pyrenees, the prosecutors office told the BBC.
His grandmother – and legal guardian – Susan Caruana told the Sun Newspaper on Thursday she had been able to speak to Alex.
“I am so happy. I have spoken to him and he is well,” she said. “It is such a shock.”
He is now apparently with social services.
Early reports from cops suggest he was living in a “spiritual community” with his mother, mainly staying in tents and caravans.
Peoplesmind
