Six years after he disappeared during a holiday, British teenager Alex Batty has been located in France. According to Agence France-Presses (AFP), authorities reported on Saturday that Alex has safely returned to the UK.
Matt Boyle of Greater Manchester Police announced Alex's safe return, stating, "It gives me great pleasure to say Alex has now made his safe return to the UK after six years."
The 17-year-old has reunited with his maternal grandmother, Susan Caruana, to whom the British justice system had reportedly entrusted his custody before his mother, Melanie Batty, abducted him. According to Toulouse assistant prosecutor Antoine Leroy, Alex made the decision to escape when Melanie mentioned plans to go to Finland, which is believed to be her current location.
During the investigation in France, Alex disclosed that, before residing in the French Pyrenees, he and his mother spent time in Morocco. The report also mentioned that over the past six years, Alex led a "nomadic" lifestyle within a "spiritual community." In discussions with investigators, the teenager revealed that he avoided staying in one place for an extended period, moving around at night to avoid detection and sourcing food from "gardens and fields."The student Fabien Accidini, who discovered Alex, informed AFP that Alex appeared to be in need of assistance and couldn't communicate in French.Accidini, employed as a delivery driver, shared that he encountered Alex "between two villages in the pouring rain in the early hours of Thursday morning." Initially finding Alex somewhat suspicious and using a false name, Accidini explained that Alex eventually opened up and began assisting with local deliveries. Accidini expressed his surprise, saying, "When he told me he'd been abducted, I made him say it again—it was crazy!"Subsequently, Accidini assisted Alex in reaching out to his grandmother via Facebook and waited for law enforcement to arrive. During this time, Accidini also discovered Alex's missing person reports on the internet. He mentioned, "I typed in his first and last name and saw his photo, which was the same as his face today at 17."