His grandmother and legal guardian had not heard from the young boy since he left for a trip to Spain, in the company of his mother and grandfather. Alex Batty, now 17 years old, was spotted by motorists near Toulouse.
A 17-year-old British boy, who disappeared six years ago during a trip to Spain, was found in France.
The Toulouse city prosecutor’s office said the boy, Alex Batty, was in a youth center in the city and would return to the UK within the day.
Alex Batty disappeared in 2017, while on vacation with his mother and grandfather. The latter are suspected of being involved in his disappearance. They do not have parental guardianship of the boy and have not yet been found.
The 17-year-old was spotted by motorists in the early hours of Wednesday morning, while walking in the rain near Toulouse.
He told motorists and police that he had been in France for two years, traveling from place to place with a traveling community embracing an alternative lifestyle. He explained that he left because he missed his loved ones in the UK.
The boy expressed a wish to return home, using the phone of one of the motorists to write to his grandmother, his legal guardian: “I love you, I want to go home.”
His grandmother and legal guardian, Susan Caruana, told the BBC in 2018 that she believed Alex Batty’s mother and grandfather took the child to live in a spiritual community in Morocco because, At the time, they were attracted to alternative lifestyles and did not want the boy to go to school.
“We are waiting for the grandmother to come and get him, we are waiting to set up repatriation with the British”said the public prosecutor of Toulouse, Samuel Vuelta-Simon.
“We are in contact, of course, with the British police, we are in close contact with them to organize this repatriation,” said Samuel Vuelta-Simon.
Police in Greater Manchester, in northwest England, where the teenager is from, said in a statement Thursday that they were in contact with French authorities for details.
“This is a long and complex research, further investigations are necessary,” said a spokesperson for Greater Manchester Police.