After going missing six years ago, 17-year-old Alex Batty is finally going home thanks to a random discovery made by a French driver. Batty, who was discovered in Haute-Garonne, close to Toulouse, disclosed that he had spent the previous two years in France “in a spiritual community.”
In 2019, a police appeal release stated that Batty was last seen when he was eleven years old, being taken on vacation by his mother and grandfather, who were not his legal guardians.
After meeting Batty, the French driver, Fabien Accidini, told CNN affiliate BFMTV, “He told me he was kidnapped by his mother five years ago in Morocco.” Following that, he was in Spain, and for the previous two years, he had been residing in France in a spiritual community.”
Batty, who called his mother a “bit crazy,” was relieved to be leaving the community and going back to England. Accidini continued, “He wanted to have a real life with a real future.” After four days of wandering, Batty was discovered, according to French broadcaster TF, walking beside the road with a skateboard, jacket, backpack and torch.
Batty’s identity has been verified by his family, and he is scheduled to return to England soon. Chris Sykes, the assistant chief constable for Greater Manchester Police, stressed how important it is to get Batty back to the United Kingdom. “Our priority is to get him back to the UK as soon as possible,” he declared. But Batty’s whereabouts over the last six years are still a mystery, and authorities want to talk to him in order to “establish the full facts when he’s ready.”
