‘He’s safe’: Alex Batty returns to Britain from France after being missing for 6 years
- The British teenager returned to the United Kingdom on Saturday, six years after he left home on what was meant to be a two-week family holiday in Spain
- Now 17, Alex told French officials he had been living a nomadic lifestyle in Spain, Morocco and France with his mother and grandfather
British teenager Alex Batty returned to the United Kingdom on Saturday, six years after he left home on what was meant to be a two-week family holiday in Spain.
The boy disappeared at the age of 11 during a holiday with his mother and grandfather in Malaga, Spain, in 2017.
Batty never returned from that holiday to his grandmother and guardian in Oldham, near Manchester. Her frantic appeals found no trace of him – until he turned up this week, walking along a road in southern France in the middle of the night.
Assistant Chief Constable Matt Boyle of Greater Manchester Police said Batty had arrived in England on a flight from Toulouse on Saturday.
He said police “are yet to fully establish the circumstances surrounding his disappearance” and whether there should be a criminal investigation.
Now 17, Alex told French officials he had been living a nomadic lifestyle in Spain, Morocco and France with his mother and grandfather as part of a “spiritual community”.