Alex Batty tells mum I don’t want you to go to jail as cops launch investigation
Alex Batty, the teenager who reappeared after vanishing six years ago has said he does not want his mum or grandad to hand themselves in.
“I don’t want you to go to jail,” he told mum Melanie, 43, and grandad David, 64, in an interview with reporters. The pair disappeared with Alex on a holiday in Spain when he was just 11.
Alex reappeared near Toulouse on Wednesday December 13 after being picked up by a delivery driver at 3AM. The teen has now been reunited with his gran in the UK, but uncertainty remains over the whereabouts of his mother and grandfather.
Last week investigators were said to be keeping an open mind as they worked to piece together Alex's version of events. The hunt for Melanie and David, 64, is now being headed-up by Greater Manchester Police and Interpol. The pair, neither of whom are Alex’s legal guardian, have been on the wanted list since disappearing with him while on holiday in Spain in 2017.
Alex is now back in Oldham, Greater Manchester with his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana, 68, who is Melanie’s mum and David’s ex. “I’m just happy to be home for Christmas,” he told reporters.
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Detectives have been interviewing Alex since his return to Oldham, who have now launched a child abduction investigation. Child abduction carries a maximum seven-year prison sentence. On Friday, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that it was investigating Alex’s disappearance,saying: “Greater Manchester Police has launched a criminal investigation into child abduction to understand the circumstances surrounding Alex Batty going missing from Sept 30 2017 to Dec 13 2023.”
Alex told the Sun he was happy to cooperate with cops but regarding his mum and grandad, he said: “I don’t think they should get in touch with the police because I don’t want them to go to jail.”
Alex had been living a nomadic lifestyle with his mother in France before he decided he wanted to return to the UK. The landlord of the house where she had been staying, in the hamlet of Villefort, near Chalabre in the Aude, told reporters yesterday how she had moved out in the middle of the night.
On December 16 as news of Alex’s rediscovery made headlines, she emailed landlord Tony Smith, saying: “I’m so sorry but we had to leave in the middle of the night. I expect you’ve seen the news by now. I’ve left the keys on the bar.”
He told the Sun: “When Alex did a runner she must have just thought the game was up and it’s time to go." He said she had been "well-liked" in the area before her disappearance.
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