ReutersThe road along which Alex Batty was found on Wednesday
NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 00:23
British teenager Alex Batty arrived in the United Kingdom on Saturday. The 17-year-old was found last Wednesday in southwestern France after being missing for six years. He returned by plane.
The boy disappeared without a trace in 2017 after going on holiday in Spain with his mother. This week it became clear that he had spent the past few years with his mother and grandfather in a nomadic commune. Before that, he lived with his mother and grandfather in Morocco for one or two years.
Alex’s grandfather probably died about six months ago, French justice says. A funeral ceremony would then have been held for him in the commune.
Skateboard and flashlight
Batty is said to have left his mother after she said she wanted to live with him in Finland. A concerned motorist picked him up on the roadside in the middle of the night earlier this week. He walked with a skateboard and a flashlight. Batty told him that he had been walking from the Pyrenees to Toulouse for four days.
He asked Accidini if he could send a message to his grandmother. “Hello Grandma, Alex here, I’m in France and hope you get this message. I love you and want to come home.”
Alex’s mother is under investigation in the United Kingdom. She would not have legal authority over him. But the precise circumstances surrounding his disappearance are still under investigation, Manchester police stressed. There is no criminal investigation yet.
2023-12-16 23:23:46
#Missing #British #boy #returns #years
