Alex Batty: Teenager says it feels ‘surreal’ to be home after being missing for six years

The teenager missing for six years before he was found in France said it feels “surreal” to be home and still goes to sleep not expecting to wake up in England.

Alex Batty was 11 when he went on holiday with his mother Melanie Batty – who does not have legal parental guardianship – and his grandfather David Batty, 59, in 2017.

He never returned and is said to have lived an “alternative” lifestyle abroad before deciding to return home.

A police investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance is ongoing.

Speaking to the Sun newspaper, the 17-year-old said he spent six years wandering around Europe with his mum and grandfather and first thought of leaving when he was 14.

He finally returned to the UK last weekend and says he is now staying with his grandmother in Oldham.

“Being back with my grandma feels quite surreal. Every time I go to sleep, I feel like I’m going to be waking up back in France. It’s not really kicked in yet that I am back in England,” he said.

“For the first few years, when I was in Spain, it was a vacation really, spending most days doing whatever I wanted, reading, drawing, going to the beach.”

He said he “started to pick up slack” at around 14, when he took up odd jobs in construction, decoration, painting walls and renovation work.

“I had a non-existent social life to be honest,” he said, adding he didn’t go to school and instead learned languages and studied maths and computing when he came across a textbook.

“And the entire six-year span, I made one friend and it was the only person really that I’d met for the entire six years that was even close to my age.”

Speaking about his mother, who he described as “anti-government, anti-vax”, Alex said: “She’s a great person and I love her but she’s just not a great mum.

“I had an argument with my mum and I just thought I’m gonna leave because I can’t live with her.”

“I realised it wasn’t a great way to live for my future,” he added.

“Moving around. No friends, no social life. Working, working, work and not studying. That’s the life I imagined I would be leading if I were to stay with my mum.”

According the Sun, Alex walked out of a rented house they were staying in near Chalabre, in southern France, and left a goodbye note on Monday last week.

He was picked up by chiropody student Fabien Accidini near the French city of Toulouse in the early hours of Wednesday – two days later.

“He was delivering parcels so I helped him because it’s the least I could do,” Alex said.

“He let me use his phone to contact my grandma. After that he calls the police and a squad car nearby takes me to the nearest police station.”

After being looked after by the French authorities, Alex met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport on Saturday before boarding a flight back to the UK, Greater Manchester Police said.

He can now look forward to spending time with family members, friends and others he grew up with in Greater Manchester, where he was living as a young boy and police say is “where he wants to be”.

Read more:
Alex Batty’s mother ‘spent summer living in French caravan using fake identity’
Missing Alex Batty ‘had been staying in French guesthouse without his mother’

“When I got back to Manchester it was raining as usual,” he added.

“I was driven back to my gran’s house and I walked in the door and she’s in the living room. I started shaking and just gave her a massive hug.

“The house is different now but still feels the same.”

French prosecutors said last week that Melanie Batty may be in Finland.