British police investigate case of UK boy who disappeared and turned up in France

The United Kingdom police on Friday (Dec 22) said that they've opened a criminal investigation into the disappearance of a British teenage boy who went missing and resurfaced in France six years after. The Greater Manchester Police is treating the case of 17-year-old Alex Batty as abduction. Batty has now returned to UK.

Batty disappeared in October 2017 when he was in Spain with his mother and grandfather. He was found last week in a mountainous area in southern France.

Fed up of drifting around

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Batty has told British media that he decided to leave his mother and grandfather as he was fed up of drifting around Europe alongside them.

"I realised it wasn't a great way to live for my future," he told The Sun.

"Moving around. No friends, no social life. Working, working, work and not studying. That's the life I imagined I would be leading if I were to stay with my mum."

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He said he decided to return to Britain because he wanted a good future for himself. When he was found last week in Toulouse, he was walking on the road and was in good health.

He told French authorities that for last six years, he was living in a "spiritual community".

He regarded his mother Melanie Batty as not being a "great mum".

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"She's a great person and I love her but she's just not a great mum," Batty told the Sun.

He said that she was "anti-government, anti-vax" and that her catchphrase was "becoming a slave to the system".

"I had an argument with my mum and I just thought I'm gonna leave because I can't live with her," Batty said.

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He told the newspaper that his grandfather David Batty was still alive. But French investigators have reportedly said that the grandfather has passed away.

Alex is now back under the legal guardianship of his grandmother in Oldham in England. He says he was going to be "busy studying and catching up" and someday hopes to work in tech sector.

(With inputs from agencies)