MIRACLE ESCAPE
‘Mum kidnapped me when I was 12’…First words Alex Batty said when he fled French commune 6 years after disappearance
After Alex was rescued he used the lorry driver's phone to message his grandmother and tell her he was alive
A BRITISH teen who disappeared six years ago fled a commune in the mountains and told his rescuer "my mother kidnapped me".
Alex Batty, then 11, was travelling in Spain with his mum and grandad in 2017 when he vanished without a trace.
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He was found alive and well in France on Thursday after hiking through the Pyreneese mountains for days to escape the "spiritual" commune where he'd been living.
The first words Alex, now 17, said to a lorry driver who picked him up on the side of the road were: "My mother kidnapped me when I was 12 years old".
Fabien Accidini, a student from Toulouse who has a part-time job delivering medicines by lorry, said he spotted the English teenager on Wednesday.
Mr Accidini told : "He was walking while the rain fell in heavy drops. The second time I passed him, I decided to offer to drop him off somewhere.
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"He was quite tall and blond, and dressed in black jeans, a white sweater and a backpack.
"He also carried a skateboard under his arm and a flashlight for lighting.";
He also texted his grandmother
The young boy, who disappeared in 2017, was only supposed to be in Marbella for a week on a pre-agreed trip with his mum, Melanie, 37, and grandfather David, 58.
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However the family never returned home to Oldham, Greater Manchester, leaving his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana devastated.
Susan previously received a video through Facebook of the three of them on the day they were due to return in 2017.
It was released without audio by Greater Manchester Police, and appears to show Alex, Melanie and David reading from some kind of script.
Alex has reportedly been living in a rural "spiritual community"; in the Pyreneese mountains in caravans and tents with Melanie and David.
Following his escape it's been claimed he’d had enough living an “alternative lifestyle” and decided to leave.
Alex reportedly said he did not know exactly where he had been living in France, except that it was "in the mountains between Ariège and Aude."
Concerned driver Accidini contacted police and on the way to the station Alex borrowed his phone to message his grandmother and tell her he was alive.
He said: "During the first few minutes, he seemed a little shy. We tried to speak in French but I noticed that he had not mastered the language.
"I decided to communicate in English. When I asked him his name, he pretended his name was Zach, and then we continued chatting.
"We talked for over three hours! Very quickly, he gave me his real identity – Alex Batty – before telling me his story."
It's unclear what exact age Alex was when he realised he'd been kidnapped.
His concerned grandmother Susan, then 62, thought her daughter and ex-husband might have adopted "an alternative lifestyle" with the 11-year-old somewhere abroad.
Today she spoke to The Sun from her home and said she was “thrilled” that her grandson has finally been found.
She said: “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.”
Accidini added: "He said his mother kidnapped him when he was 12 years old. Since then, he had lived in Spain in a luxury house with around ten people.
"He arrived in France in around 2021. In the middle of last weekend, he decided to leave his mother to join his family in England. He had been walking in the mountain for more than four days!
"He lived with his mother in a spiritual community, far away from normal life. Alex told me his mother was a little crazy but she never imprisoned him.
"He could leave if he wanted. He had no animosity towards her but really wanted to find his grandmother. He missed his loved ones."
A heartbroken Susan had said at the time of his disappearance: "They didn't want [Alex] to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream school."
And she revealed that her daughter and ex-husband previously lived on a commune in Morocco with Alex in 2014.
Alex was able to identify himself in an interview with cops, without any official ID.
The teen reportedly told the story of what had happened to him "serenely and calmly".
"His face and his story correspond in every way to that of the Briton kidnapped in 2017," local said.
Accidini said Alex was so tired when they arrived at the police station he had to lie down.
"When he arrived, Alex seemed very tired... He lay down on the ground.
"After that, the gendarmes questioned us. They were trying to find out if it was really him. When they had confirmation, he was taken into care to spend the night in a home.
"It's Alex Batty, 100%. When I saw the photos published by the English media, I absolutely did not doubt his words."
He is now apparently with social services while Greater Manchester Police work with French authorities.
Manchester cops said: “This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place.”
A French police spokesman added: "We can confirm that the young man who has been found is Alex Batty. He is well and providing information".
Susan never gave up hope that her grandson would one day be found.
Wishing him his last happy birthday message, she posted on Facebook: “Please just give me a sign that you are okay.
“All I want to know is that you’re alive and well. It’s been years of torture. My heart is broken.
“I love you so much. I hope that I will see you again some day. I would give anything just for one hug.”
She said of his disappearance in 2018: "On the Sunday, they were due back in the afternoon and my husband was going to go and pick them up.
"I got this message on Facebook and it was a YouTube video of the three of them.
"They all spoke on it and Melanie said the reasons why they had done what they had done.
"Alex said it was a million times better being with his mum and grandad. Obviously it hurt me a bit but then my other concerns kicked in.
"The reason I believe they have done this is because basically my lifestyle, my belief systems, are not what they agree with - just simply living day to day, how normal people do.
"They didn't want him to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream school."
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In a statement, the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said: "We are supporting a British national in France and are in contact with local authorities.”
Alex’s mother and grandfather remain wanted in connection with his disappearance.
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