Boy missing for six years returns

Great Britain - Boy missing for six years returns

Not going to school for six years, seeing new countries and living abroad instead. That's what happened to Alex Batty from England. It was completely unclear whether he actually liked it. Now, however, the 17-year-old's erratic nomadic life with his mother and grandfather was obviously too much for him - and he reported to the police in the south of France. The boy has since returned to his grandmother near Manchester, as the police announced on Sunday night.

But the story is far from over. Rather, it seems like a mystery. Why didn't the authorities find the child for years? It was also astonishing that the case had recently been increasingly forgotten in the public eye. The Greater Manchester Police are not yet forthcoming with details. They simply said that they wanted to talk to Alex in detail and calmly first.

Revel, December 14: A van driver reports to a police station in the south of France. The 26-year-old had picked up a teenager at night in the pouring rain, somewhere between Camon and Chalabre, a 20-minute drive from the nearest town. He had been kidnapped by his mother and had now escaped, the teenager told him. "He said she was a bit crazy," the media quoted the man as saying.

A story that is difficult to untangle

The story that is now coming to light is a difficult one to unravel. He apparently did not know that the boy had been wanted for six years. The French alerted the British - who confirmed the case. Soon afterwards, his step-grandfather and British police officers met the teenager in Toulouse and flew him back home.

The case provides an insight into a difficult family situation, which was investigated in detail by the "Sunday Times". It is not known who Alex's biological father is, and his mother Melanie has not spoken about it. Grandfather David lost his job in 2013 for health reasons and the divorce from wife Susan was difficult. When bailiffs tried to seize his house, he put up a fight - with the help of Melanie, who studied law.

The daughter was intelligent but prone to conspiracy theories, according to an unnamed friend of David's who spoke to the Times. Thanks in part to Facebook groups, David and Melanie have increasingly found themselves in an environment that rejects state intervention such as taxes, mortgage payments or TV fees. In Morocco, they lived temporarily with Alex in a commune that was trying to develop "fuel-free" energy sources.

No return from family vacation

When Melanie moved on to Bali with her new boyfriend, grandmother Susan brought her grandson home. Alex settled in England - until his mother and grandfather reappeared and took him on a family vacation to Spain in 2017.

Alex was supposed to be back with his grandmother, who had been granted custody, on October 8, 2017. But instead of returning the then eleven-year-old child as promised, the now 38-year-old woman and her father ran away with the boy. From then on, Alex disappeared from the face of the earth, according to British media reports. Even extensive police investigations, an international appeal and the support of the Spanish authorities did not lead to the trio being tracked down.

Exact route of the trio is unknown

The exact route is unknown, but the trio probably lived in Morocco again, then in Spain and finally in the Pyrenees in southern France. According to British media reports, they were surrounded by a wandering spiritual community. It is not uncommon to meet people who follow alternative lifestyles, the Times quoted a resident in the Pyrenean town of Quillan, where Alex is said to have recently tried unsuccessfully to enrol at a school. Grandmother Susan Caruana speaks of a cult.

She is now relieved. "I spoke to him last night and it was so good to hear his voice and see him," she said after a video call on Thursday evening. "I can't wait to be reunited with him." The police will only decide whether to open a criminal investigation after a detailed conversation with Alex. The boy appears healthy and intelligent, although he has not been to school for six years, as French officials reported immediately after the case came to light.

It is still unclear where the mother and grandfather are. Residents in the village of La Bastide, where Grandpa David is said to have last lived in a gîte - a kind of vacation home - contradicted reports from the UK that the 59-year-old died six months ago. And has Melanie traveled to Finland in the meantime? Allegedly, she wanted to see the Northern Lights there - but Alex did not want to go and therefore ran away, according to the French police.