A British boy who has not been seen since his apparent kidnapping six years ago has been found alive and well in France, prosecutors said today.
Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he failed to return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie and grandfather David in 2017.
Alex's grandmother and official guardian, Susan Caruana, said in 2018 that she believed her daughter and ex-husband had taken him abroad to live an “alternative lifestyle” abroad.
And now, six years after his disappearance, prosecutors say Alex has been found alive and well after fleeing a “spiritual community.”
Investigators believe Alex escaped from a rural community at the foot of the Pyrenees.
Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he went missing while traveling with relatives in Spain in October 2017
Alex flew to Spain on a pre-arranged trip with Melanie, then 37, and David, then 58, for a week's stay in the Benahavis area, near Marbella.
But Alex and his mother and grandfather did not arrive home as expected on October 8, 2017, sparking a major police investigation into the boy's apparent kidnapping.
Alex's grandmother and official guardian, Susan Caruana, who was 62 in 2017, speculated that they had adopted an “alternative lifestyle” somewhere.
She said at the time: 'They didn't want (Alex) to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream education.'
Now prosecutors in south-west France are confident that Alex, now 17, turned up alone in Revel, near Toulouse.
La Depeche, the newspaper that covers the area, reported on Thursday: 'The Alex Batty mystery is about to be solved.
'Although he did not show any official document to the gendarmes who took him in, this young 17-year-old boy gave his identity on his own.
'His face and his story correspond in every respect to that of the Briton kidnapped in 2017. “On Thursday, the public prosecutor of Toulouse confirmed that it is indeed Alex Batty.”
Investigators believed Alex escaped from a rural community at the foot of the Pyrenees.
After days of walking, he was picked up by a truck driver who became suspicious and called the police.
Alex was questioned by the infirm, and – according to La Depeche – 'he narrated his incredible journey, serene and calm.
'His story has been verified and appears to correspond to reality. Following this hearing, the teenager was entrusted to the department's social services pending notification of his relatives.”
Initial investigations by the judicial police in collaboration with prosecutors show that Alex lived with his mother and grandmother in a 'spiritual community' and mainly stayed in caravans and tents.
This is a breaking news story, more to come…