Alex disappeared in December 2017 in Spain, where he had gone to relax with his mother and grandfather. The whereabouts of the mother and grandfather are unknown.
Missing! Alex Batty from Oldham, Greater Manchester. Alex travelled to Spain with his mother, Melanie Batty, for a weeks holiday but was not returned to his guardian. Thought to have travelled on to Morocco.
Missing Kids ref 17-005650 pic.twitter.com/BD2QQDGNSP
— UK Justice Forum 🇬🇧 Latest Video News Updates! (@Justice_forum) December 21, 2017
A local police source told the BBC that the boy was brought to the police station by a motorist who spotted him walking along a road in the foothills of the Pyrenees. A local journalist said that a motorist noticed a guy with a backpack and a skateboard and took him into his car. “They spent three hours in the car and the guy told his life story,” a local journalist told La Depeche newspaper. “He said that no one forced him, but he considered his mother a bit of a fascist and decided that he didn’t want that kind of life and wanted to go his own way, so he decided to leave,” the journalist said.
The guy said that he has been living in France for two years, staying in the lonely valleys of the Pyrenees and constantly changing his place of residence. The boy did not say where his mother was or where exactly he had lived, but he had been walking on a mountain road for several days before being found. The foothills of the Pyrenees attract many who are looking for an alternative lifestyle.
“He asked the driver if he could borrow his phone and send a message to his grandmother on Facebook saying he was fine and wanted to see her. He wasn’t sure if grandma got the message,” the journalist said.
The driver, on the other hand, stated that it was raining heavily that night when he passed the boy. On the way back, he passed him again, but this time he decided to stop and talk to him. Alex admitted he was thirsty after several days of travel. He had planned to find a big city with an embassy to ask for help, but the driver contacted the local authorities, who contacted the British Embassy in Paris.
Alex’s grandmother Susan Caruana told The Sun newspaper on Thursday that she was happy to finally talk to her grandson. “I am so happy. I spoke to him and he is doing well,” she said. “It’s such a shock.”
In 2018, Susan Caruana told the BBC that the boy’s mother Melanie Beatty and Susan’s ex-husband, Alex’s grandfather David Beatty, most likely took him to live in a spiritual community in Morocco. She said that at that time both were looking for an alternative way of life and did not want to send Alex to school, moreover, all three were already living in a commune in Morocco in 2014.
She and Alex went on a week-long vacation in Marbella, Spain on September 30, 2017, but were last seen in the port of Malaga on October 8, the day of their planned return.
2023-12-14 19:51:11
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