14 December 2023 , 19:57
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Missing Brit Alex Batty had been hiking over mountains for four days before being found by a French lorry driver, it's been revealed.
Alex Batty reportedly stumbled across the lorry driver after he was wandering along a rural road this week. The 17-year-old had been missing for six years when he was found on Wednesday, French authorities have now confirmed.
Now startling details have emerged of the teen's story as it transpires he had been walking for four days when he was found. Driver and student Fabien Accidini told how he was delivering medicines for his part-time job at the time when he spotted the Brit teen, who is originally from Oldham, Greater Manchester.
He told French newspaper La Depeche he saw Alex carrying a skateboard and a torch when he drove past him when he decided to pull over and offer him a lift. "He was quite tall and blond, and dressed in black jeans, a white sweater and a backpack." Mr Accidini said.
The teenager from Oldham was reported missing in 2017 (GMP)The two spoke for three hours, he told the paper, revealing Alex quickly divulged his identity despite initially claiming he name was "Zach". "Very quickly, he gave me his real identity – Alex Batty –before telling me his story," the driver said.
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"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 10 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!"
Local media reports Alex had been living a nomadic lifestyle in the remote Pyrenean valleys and moving about from place to place at the time. The area, which is in the far south of France at the foot of the Pyrenees at the Spanish border, is known as a popular place for people with alternative lifestyles.
Alex's mother Melanie Batty, who is believed to have taken Alex abroad to live an 'alternative lifestyle' (PA)Alex was initially reported missing in 2017 after going on holiday to Marbella, Spain with his mother and grandfather in September that year, who both remain wanted in connection with his disappearance. His grandmother and legal guardian, Susan Caruana, has since said she has now spoken with Alex and was "so happy".
Mr Accidini said Alex was "tired" and "thirsty" when he picked him up as he "had been walking for several days" and gave him water. He'd also not had any means of communication, the French driver said, so borrowed his phone to send his grandmother a Facebook message.
He then notified the gendarmes, a branch of police who have jurisdiction in more rural areas, who advised them to come to the town of Revel, east of Toulouse.