Alex Batty’s mother flees French bolthole after he goes public – and leaves all her son’s belongings in the hideaway

The mother of kidnapped teenager Alex Batty fled her remote hideout in France hours after learning the teenager was returning to Britain.

Melanie Batty reportedly left the rented home in a 'late night dash' with her belongings after her son resurfaced after six years on the run in Europe.

But suitcases full of the 17-year-old's clothes, PlayStation games, a laptop, books, games, healthy food and milk were all left behind at the £480-a-month four-bed house in the hamlet of Villefort, near Chalabre in the Aude .

According to the Sun, Alex's mother travels with a close Italian male friend, Fabrizio, and only communicates with people via email.

Before leaving, the 43-year-old wrote in an email to her landlord: 'I'm so sorry but we had to leave in the middle of the night. I expect you've seen the news by now. I left the keys on the bar.'

Alex returned to this country on Saturday, December 16, having left the family's hippie lifestyle and determined to get a good education.

Alex was 11 when he left Britain in 2017 for what he said was a week's holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather David, 64.

Last Wednesday, she sent another email saying, “I'll be back one day.”

Alex was 11 when he left Britain in 2017 for what he said was a week's holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather David, 64.

He returned to this country on Saturday, December 16, having left the family's hippie lifestyle and determined to get a good education.

Alex is now back in Oldham, reunited with his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana, 68.

He was represented by lawyers at a hearing today at a Family Court hearing at Manchester Civil Courts.

She is said to have taken him to a traveling 'spiritual community' and a police investigation is underway into the circumstances of his disappearance, the court heard.

A neighbor in France said Melanie was last seen on Tuesday getting into a white car belonging to Fabrizio.

One of her friends said Melanie had contacted her to say she was “tired from running” but “felt like she had no choice.”

The friend said, “She thinks she is on a mission from God and she says she has given her life to a higher spirit.”

Alex flew to Malaga in September 2017 before being taken to a 'spiritual community' in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Investigators believe Alex escaped from the rural community in southern France and hiked through the French Pyrenees for days before being picked up by a truck driver who took him to a police station in Revel, near Toulouse.

Gite de la Bastide in the part of the Pyrenees where teenager Alex Batty lived

The spiritual community of Garden of Eden, where Melanie Batty lived in France

Landlord Tony Smith, 81, knew her as Rose, while David called himself Peter and Alex Zack.

He said: 'When Alex was doing a run she must have thought the game was over and it was time to go.

'She started making plans when she paid me the rent two days before she moved out and she packed up and cleaned the whole house, putting all the stuff she left behind in the attic.

“She brought her tabby. She loved that cat, Sky.”

The Oldham man first met Melanie at a bar called Cafe de Sports in the small mountain town of Chalabre last summer, before moving into the converted cowshed on December 5.

Tony believes she will come back as she is well loved in the area.

Melanie said Tony needed a place to stay after receiving “marching orders” from the commune she was at in early November.

Shortly afterwards, she took Alex and David to meet Tony, hoping he would give them a job fixing up another of his houses.

He remembers that Alex asked him at such a late age how he could get an education, and the landlord suggested he join the army.

He also revealed that Melanie has turned off her phone and is using email to talk to friends. He thinks she is currently in Spain.

Greater Manchester Police are treating his case as a kidnapping.