15 December 2023 , 09:12
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Alex Batty's emotional grandmother says she is counting down the hours until they are reunited after she never gave up hope that he would come home.
Now 17, Alex went missing in 2017 after going on a family holiday to Spain and detectives believe he was abducted by his mother Melanie Batty to live an "alternative" lifestyle abroad. The boy disappeared after going on the trip with his mother and grandfather, who are now being hunted by police.
His concerned gran Susan, who was 62 when they vanished, had been frantically trying to track down the 11-year-old from Oldham, Greater Manchester, ever since. Six years on he sent a message to her in the UK saying "I love you, I want to come home". She has spoken of her desperate plight to locate her grandson and is over the moon that he has been found.
Alex Batty's emotional grandmother says she is counting down the hours until they are reunited (PA)Alex remains at a young person's centre in Toulouse, France, and could arrive back in Britain later today, the prosecutors' office in the city have said. That can't come soon enough for his grandmother who previously spoke of her "torture" following his sudden disappearance.
Speaking to The Sun following the news this week that he had been located, 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."
Missing British boy who vanished in Spain 6 years ago found alive in France
Alex is expected to be reunited with his gran within hours (PA)Speaking back in 2018, she appealed for help after her family up and left: She said: "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."
He was taken to Spain by mother Melanie Batty and grandfather David Batty six years ago (PA)Alex was found after chiropody student Fabien Accidini offered him a lift after being told he had been walking for days. Mr Accidini said: "He explained that he had been walking for four days, that he set off from a place in the mountains, though he didn't say where. I typed his name into the internet and saw that he was being looked for.
"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 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."
The student said Alex did not seem angry at being held in the "community" and said he had not been chained up - although it was unclear if he had been allowed to leave at any time. Mr Accidini said: "He didn't have regrets [about leaving the community]... he just wanted to live a normal life, to see his grandmother again and to have a normal future, that's the word that he used."