Alex Batty is back in the UK 'with his family' six years after he went missing
16.12.2023 - 23:41
/ manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Alex Batty is back in the UK and 'with his family', six years after he went missing. The teenager from Oldham who disappeared in 2017, aged 11, has flown back from France where he was found earlier this week.
Greater Manchester Police have not confirmed his location, but said that he is 'with his family members' now. The force sent two specialist officers to Toulouse where he met his step-grandfather before travelling back to the UK.
The teenager went missing while on a family holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie - who was not his legal guardian - and grandad David. In the early hours of Wednesday (December 16), six years after going missing, the teenager was found walking alone near the city of Toulouse by a student who offered him a lift in his lorry.
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Chiropody student Fabien Accidini told Sky News that Alex had been hiking in nearby mountains for more than four days in an attempt to return to England. Mr Accidini did not initially believe the story but later called the police.
French prosecutor Antoine Leroy told the media on Friday (December 16) that Alex Batty spent two years in Morocco and then in a 'spiritual community' in the Pyrenees mountains before he left his mother when she decided to move to Finland. He said that Alex Batty’s grandfather is thought to have died approximately six months ago.
Speaking at a press conference tonight (December 16), GMP assistant chief constable Matt Boyle said that the force is yet to obtain any formal statement from Alex so cannot comment on the information that the French authorities disclosed.
He said: "I know there has understandably