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26th December 2023
04:46pm GMT
Teenager Alex Batty celebrated the Holiday season properly for the first time in years with two dozen cans of his favourite drink.
The 17-year-old was picked up by a lorry driver as he hiked through France in an effort to return to the UK earlier this month.
He'd been kidnapped back in 2017, but is now back living with his grandma Susan.
The boy's legal guardian said she was having the "best Christmas ever" following her grandson's shock reappearance.
Alex had disappeared after going on holiday to Spain with his mum Melanie grandad David six years ago.
They moved between isolated communities before settling in France, with the teen living in a farmhouse in a tiny village under a different name.
Now back in Oldham, Alex got his Christmas wish of 24 cans of Irn Bru and plenty of crisps that he missed while out of the country.
His grandmother admitted she has never been able to celebrate the festive season properly since her grandson vanished.
Alex told The Sun:
“I loved Irn-Bru when I was little and used to get some from the corner shop whenever I could.
The same for Worcestershire sauce flavoured crisps.
So my gran surprised me by tracking down a massive pack of cans and a couple of family-sized bags of crisps.
I could have just tucked into them for Christmas dinner.”
The 17-year-old was found on a rural road at 3am earlier this month.
He was about 65 miles south of Toulouse at the time, and was later flown back to the UK.
Susan was reunited with him 2,269 days after she last saw him.
As well as the fizzy drinks and crisps, Alex received a new phone and headphones, an Alexa device, a sketch pad and colouring pencils and a water bottle.
He also got tickets to see his beloved Manchester United take on Aston Villa on Boxing Day.
