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15th Dec 2023

Alex Batty’s family speak out after he’s found in France six years after going missing

Charlie Herbert

His grandmother has said she is ‘thrilled’ after he contacted her on social media

The family of a British boy who went missing in Spain six years ago have spoken out after he was found alive and well in France.

On Thursday, French authorities said that a teenager answering to the name of Alex Batty, from Oldham, had handed himself at a police station near Toulouse.

The boy had gone missing in Spain back in 2017 after going there on holiday with his mum and grandfather, neither of whom were his legal guardian.

When none of the family returned home from the holiday in Marbella, police opened an investigation.

According to reports, Alex handed himself into police in Revel, near Toulouse, after ‘escaping a spiritual rural community’ in the Pyrenees. He had been walking for four days before he was picked up by a concerned lorry driver.

Alex went missing in 2017 when he was 11-year-old (Greater Manchester Police)

His legal guardian is his grandmother Susan Caruana has now spoken out about him being found, confirming that he is safe and has been in contact with her.

She told the Sun: “I am so happy. I have spoken to him and he is well.

“He is currently with the authorities in France. It is such a shock.

“I don’t know where his mum is. It is great news. I am just waiting for him to come home – I am thrilled.”

According to French media, Alex provided his own identity when he arrived at the police station. His face and story corresponded with the case, and the Toulouse public prosecutor confirmed his identity on Thursday.

Following his disappearance in 2017, Caruana said Alex’s mum and grandad had taken Alex to live an “alternative lifestyle” with him in a spiritual community in Morocco,

She said: “They didn’t want [Alex] to go to school, they don’t believe in mainstream school.”

The pair are both still wanted by police.

Speaking about how he found Alex, delivery driver Fabien Accidini said: “He [Alex] explained that he had been walking for four days, that he set off from a place in the mountains, though he didn’t say where.

“I typed his name into the internet and saw that he was being looked for.”

The teen then used Accidini’s Facebook account to contact his grandmother, the BBC reports.

He wrote: “Hello Grandma, it’s me Alex. I’m in France Toulouse. I really hope that you receive this message. I love you, I want to come home.”

Caruana is too frail to travel to France to meet him, but a team of British police officers and consular staff are expected to pick Alex up and bring him back to the UK as early as Friday.