Alex Batty’s grandfather died six months before the missing teen decided to escape from his mum in the “cult”, French prosecutors have said.
Alex, now 17, went missing when he was just 11 years old when he didn’t return from a family holiday to Spain with his mother and grandad. Detectives now believe he was abducted by his mother Melanie Batty to live an “alternative” lifestyle abroad.
The teen, from Oldham in Greater Manchester , was living in a ‘spiritual community’ where his mum and grandad David became “obsessed” with solar energy and solar panels. But he told police his grandparent died six months before he decided to flee the French commune, reports The Mirror.
Alex is expected to return to the UK for an emotional reunion with his grandmother Susan Caruana, 68, in the next few days. He spoke to her via video call for the first time in six years last night (December 14).
Read more: Alex Batty ‘survived by eating food he found in fields and gardens’
Greater Manchester Police confirmed in a press briefing today that he was found wandering along the road in the pitch black by student and part-time delivery driver Fabien Accidini.
The French authorities have addressed the media after the boy was found. Toulouse Assistant Public Prosecutor Antoine Leroy told reporters that Alex made a break for it after hearing his mother’s plan to move on to Finland.
He said: “He has had two stays in Morocco. There was a conflict between his mother and her mother. In 2018, she then asked if she could spend two weeks in Spain, to which she agreed. She spent two weeks then went back to Morocco. He then travelled to France.
When his mother indicated that she was going to leave with him to Finland, this young man understood that this had to stop. So he then decided to leave the place where he was with his mother and he went walking for four days and four nights. He was exclusively walking at night and sleeping during the day. He was found by a young man aged 26. The student spoke to him in English.”
Antoine Leroy went on to say it is “difficult” to understand the education level of Alex Batty since he does not speak French. The teen “talked a lot” about how his mother and grandfather were “obsessed” with solar energy and solar panels which they “travelled with”. He described their lifestyle as “nomadic”.
(Image: PA)
He continued: “He doesn’t describe any kind of physical violence. We can’t use the term ‘sect’ as such but he talked about some kind of spiritual community. It was always the same way of living. They got food based on allotments. There was work on the ego, meditation work.”
Continuing to describe how Alex had been living over the past six years, Assistant Public Prosecutor Antoine Leroy said: “They would work on the ego, there was meditation work – there was no connection with the real world. They believed in reincarnation.”
Addressing what the teenager said to the student who found him, Mr Leroy added: “He explained that he was being searched for and that he wanted protection. It was always the same way of living. They got food based on allotments. There was work on the ego, meditation work.”
Speaking about Alex’s condition when he was checked over by officials, Mr Leroy said: “This young man was described by the police who have seen him and by the doctors who examined him as ‘tired’ but overall in good health. He’s said to be intelligent even though he’s never been to school in this entire period.”
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes, of Greater Manchester Police, told reporters today: “The young man and Alex’s grandmother spoke on a video call last night and whilst she is content that this is indeed Alex, we obviously have further checks to do when he returns to the United Kingdom. This is a huge moment for Alex, his family and for the community in Oldham.”
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