Teenager Alex Batty, who disappeared six years ago after being 'kidnapped' by his mother and grandfather during a holiday to Spain, has begged authorities not to send them to jail, saying he may never see them again.
The 17-year-old has returned to normal life in Oldham with his grandmother Susan Caruana, who was his legal guardian at the time of his disappearance in 2017.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain on Wednesday, Alex said he will 'probably never see his mother or grandfather again'.
Both are convinced that they do not want to see his mother and grandfather behind bars. It comes as his mother Melanie, 43, told friends to “keep running” last week as she went into hiding with her father, David, 64.
Today Alex revealed more details about his nomadic lifestyle. He said it was “very, very boring” because he was so isolated from people his own age.
Alex Batty, 17, has now returned to normal life in Oldham with his grandmother after six years abroad
Alex is pictured with his mother and grandfather after he was reportedly kidnapped when he was eleven
'That's why I didn't come home earlier. The only thing I was worried about was that they would be locked up,” Alex said, speaking to Good Morning Britain on Wednesday.
He told how, after he was first taken to live his new life with his mother, he was excited to be with her again – but after a few years he realized it was 'not the best for me'.
“In the last six years I've met maybe two people my own age who I've become friends with,” Alex said.
He described the nomadic life as “boring to say the least” and “very isolated from my own peers.”
The teenager first discussed returning to Britain with his mother at the age of 16, but said it was a split-second decision to leave when he escaped early last month and left a note for his mother left table.
'It was a normal day. To be honest I didn't think I was going to (leave), it was a very quick decision to make it happen that day.
'I made food for everyone, played it chill of course and around 10.30pm I wrote the note and by 12pm I was gone.'
After finding out Alex had fled, his mother reportedly fled from her remote hideout in France late at night and is said to have traveled to Spain. The 17-year-old escaped at midnight on December 11 while his mother Melanie was sleeping in bed.
He was found by a delivery man after walking 22 miles for two days, drinking from mountain springs and sleeping in the forest.
Alex told the program that he began to doubt the nomadic lifestyle his mother favored when, by the time he was 14, he took jobs in construction, painting and renovating houses to earn money to eat .
He was taken across the border from Spain to France, where they joined various spiritual 'communes' over the years.
“We stayed in a lot of caravans and in a lot of houses, always high up in the mountains, hours away from any village or anything like that,” he said.
'One day I thought: OK, I can't handle this anymore. I knew everything had already been arranged for them to leave where we were, so if I had left, they would have been gone by the time the police arrived.
Alex told the program that by the time he was 14 he began to doubt the nomadic lifestyle his mother favored (Picture: Alex with his grandmother)
Alex disappeared while on holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie and grandfather David
Alex has been living a nomadic life with his mother (photo) for the past six years
Alex, from Oldham, was 11 when he failed to return from a holiday to Spain
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.
Describing how she feared she might never see Alex again, she continued: 'I thought about Alex every day and it was painful. But now I won't think like that anymore.'
Ms Caruana added: 'It's amazing. It's great to wake up in the morning and not have deep stomach aches.”
Remarkably, she told GMB that she could forgive her daughter: “I don't want them to go to jail, that's the last thing I want.”
The transition back to normal life has been a challenge since his return to Britain just before Christmas, where he celebrated properly for the first time in six years.
“I've had one friend who was my age in the last six years. Everyone else I know is much older than me, so I talk very easily to adults, but with children my age it's very different.'
But Alex said he is enjoying being back in the cold and wet British weather, adding: 'I love the rain'.
Isolated from people his own age and having not attended school since his disappearance in October 2017, Alex had become disillusioned with the life forced upon him by his “anti-government,” “anti-vax” parent.
The teenager even tried to go to a top French school earlier this year to realize his dreams of working in IT one day. But this failed when staff became suspicious and called the police.
Now he wants to enroll in college and has even planned a night out for his 18th birthday next month.
After reconnecting with many of his old school friends, Alex said he plans to get “absolutely hammered” when he celebrates in February.
While living off the grid, Alex had convinced his mother to move to a rented farm instead of living in the mountains.
Tired of constantly moving and working in exchange for food and lodging, he said he made only one friend his own age during the six years he was away: a Spanish girl he met in a café.
She allegedly forced Alex to live in a “spiritual community” rather than return to his grandmother, who is his legal guardian.
The teenager added that he learned languages himself and studied mathematics and computer science from textbooks, but did not go to school.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed earlier this month that it had launched a criminal investigation into his alleged kidnapping.