Abducted Alex Batty reveals his biggest regret from six years living on the run
has revealed his biggest regret from his six years on the run with his mum and grandfather, as he shared he is not “comfortable” talking to people his own age.
The now 17-year-old, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, vanished when he was 11, when his mother, Melanie Batty, 37, and grandfather, David Batty, 58, "kidnapped" him after taking him on a pre-planned holiday in 2017. Both adults were prohibited from being with the boy at the time, because of domestic difficulties.
Alex was taken to live in a "spiritual community" first in Morocco and later in the Pyrenees before eventually turning up in France. Last month he was found out of the blue. Speaking on ITV's Good Morning Britain in his first TV interview, Alex said he does not want his mother or grandfather to get into trouble and of his loneliness from his nomadic life.
He said: “In the past six years I met one, maybe two, people my own age I made friends with. Everyone else I know has been a lot older than me so I’m comfortable talking to adults but with children my age it’s completely different.
“We stayed in a lot of caravans and we stayed in a lot of houses, always up mountains, hours away from any kind of village or anything like that. One day I just thought: 'OK. I can't take this any more.' I knew everything was already kind of in place for them to leave where we were. So, if I were to have left, they would be gone by the time the police arrived.”
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Alex Batty said he made only one or two friends his own age in his time away (ITV)Alex, who has not attended any school since age 11, said he left a note behind to his mother and grandfather, saying he loved them and he knew what they did was out of love for him, but it was not best for his future. He added: “I don't think I'll see them again.”
, Susan, getting his wish of 24 cans of Irn Bru and a couple of family-sized bags of crisps. Alex did not have any proper schooling during his time moving around Europe and is now preparing to start college in January. The whereabouts of Alex’s mum and grandad are unknown after she left a rented house in the village of Villefort in France.
Susan, Alex’s official guardian, previously said her husband and daughter had taken Alex into an "alternative lifestyle". She said: "They didn't want [Alex] to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream school.
"I used to think about Alex every single day and that was painful. But now I won't think that way anymore." She also shared she did not want his mother or grandfather to face prison over his disappearance.
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