17 December 2023 , 14:31
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The hunt for Alex Batty's mother continues after the teen claimed she 'went to see the Northern Lights'
The search for the 17-year-old teenager's alleged kidnapper came after his return to Britain this week six years after his disappearance. His family welcomed him back to Oldham, Greater Manchester, from France on Saturday night after he spent years living in a travelling community. But there was still no sign of his 48-year-old mother, Melanie Batty, who is accused of abducting her own son when he was just 11.
Susan Caruana, the teenager's grandmother and official guardian, until he turns 18 next year, has regularly complained about the behaviour of Ms Batty.
A photo of Alex released in 2018 after his disappearance (PA)An investigating source in Toulouse said on Sunday: "The boy claims that his mother has gone to Finland to see the Northern Lights, so the search for her is continuing across Europe. This does not mean that the search has stopped in France – she has been placed here regularly over the years, and may well still be hiding in the countryside. All kinds of information is circulating, and a lot of it does not add up."
The source added: "If she did travel to Finland, then she would absolutely have needed a passport. This would make tracing her journey relatively easy."
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International police agency Interpol has been involved in the increasingly complicated case since Alex went missing in 2017 during a holiday to Spain. He was with his mother at the time, as well as his paternal grandfather David Batty, who would now be 64.
Aulus-les-Bains is a hippy commune in the Occitane region of south western France where Alex's mum could be (Getty Images/iStockphoto)There are claims Mr Batty died six months ago, but even that theory has now been called into question. No record of Mr Batty’s death has been filed, and neighbours in the hamlet of La Bastide, near Carcassonne, said they saw him looking fit and well within the last two weeks. Greater Manchester police flew to south west France to collect Alex – who turned himself into gendarmes last Wednesday – but for diplomatic reasons could not assist the French in looking for Mr and Ms Batty.
The French source said: "The British are now leading the investigation, and they of course will be interviewing Alex at length. His mother is crucial to the enquiry, and she needs to be found." The search area in France alone is a huge swathe of Pyrenean countryside which is hugely popular with spiritual communities, sects, cults and hippies.
Alex Batty’s last known address, before he came home, was Gite de la Bastide in La Bastide, France (The Daily Mirror)It is understood the community the Battys joined never stayed anywhere for more than a two weeks before moving on, living off the land and whatever money they could pull together. Rolande Alibert, the mayor of La Bastide, described Alex as a ‘happy and polite’ boy who would be ‘happy to be back with his grandmother.’ He said: "We knew the boy as Zak and his grandfather as Peter, and it was only after I read about them in the newspaper that I learned the truth."
Alex landed in Manchester on Saturday evening, walking off the plane with a skateboard under his arm before joining his grandmother. Ms Caruana said: "I spoke with him last night and it was so good to hear his voice and see his face again."