Boy who went missing in Britain six years ago has been found in France

A British boy who disappeared six years ago is expected to return home in the coming days after a driver found him walking along the side of a road in southern France. The publication told in more detail CNN.

Photo: IStock

Alex Batty had not been seen since he was 11 years old after he went on holiday to Spain in 2017 with his grandfather and mother “who did not have legal parental custody,” according to a police complaint issued in February 2019.

Batty, now 17, was found in Haute-Garonne, near the city of Toulouse, a spokesman for regional authorities said.

British police said they had no details about where Batty had spent the last six years, but Fabien Accidini, the French motorist who rescued Batty on the side of the road, said the boy had been living in France "in a spiritual community" for the last two years.

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According to Accidini, Batty told him that he was “kidnapped by his mother” in 2017, after which he spent three years in Spain and two years in France.

“He told me he was kidnapped by his mother five years ago in Morocco. Then he ended up in Spain and for the last two years he lived in France in a spiritual community,” Accidini reported the words of the teenager.

Batty described his mother as “a little crazy,” he said.

Accidini is a chiropractor who was making overnight deliveries to pharmacies when he first encountered Betty. After first giving a false name, the boy spoke with Accidini for three hours in English and French.

According to French broadcaster TF1, a man saw Batty walking along the side of the road with a skateboard, jacket, backpack and flashlight. It was raining when Accidini met him and he stopped because he was intrigued by what the boy was doing by the road.

“He told me that he had been on the road for four days already, since he left the mountains without knowing where,” continued Fabien Accidini.

“It was easier for him to leave, go back to England, see his grandmother again, because he didn’t want to spend his whole life in this community,” Accidini explained. “He wanted to live a real life with a real future.”

Police investigation

BFMTV reported that the family had confirmed the teenager's identity and that he was expected to return to England soon, according to the Toulouse prosecutor's office.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes of Greater Manchester Police said: "Our priority is to return him to the UK as quickly as possible."

Sykes told reporters he expected Betty to return to her family home in the north of England "within the next few days."

He stressed that British police have “no details” about Batty’s whereabouts over the past six years. He said officers "need to talk to him to establish all the facts when he's ready."

Betty's grandmother, Susan Caruana, his legal guardian, said she had spoken with Alex.

"I'm so happy! “I talked to him and he’s fine,” Caruana rejoiced. — Now he is with the authorities in France. It's such a shock."

Accidini showed a message sent on Wednesday, December 13 at 03:29 local time, which Batty sent to his grandmother from the Frenchman's Facebook account.

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The boy wrote: “Hi grandma, it's me, Alex. I am in France, in Toulouse, I really hope that you receive this message. I love you and want to come home."

Greater Manchester Police in the UK said they had been contacted regarding the "possible sighting of Alex Batty, who went missing in 2017, in France."

Officers in the English city of Oldham are in contact with French authorities to establish the “authenticity of the message,” they added.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesman said: "This is a complex and lengthy investigation and we need to carry out additional procedures as well as appropriate security measures."

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