Real reason kid missing for 6 years was trying to make way back to UK uncovered
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The reason that abducted teenager Alex Batty decided to return to the UK six years after going missing has been revealed.
Alex, or Zach, as he was latterly known, set off to Britain last Sunday in a bid to get new identity papers. He needed the documents so he could enroll at a French school and get an education, with a plan to study computer science, reported the Daily Mail.
The boy, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, was 11 when he vanished while travelling with his family in October 2017. It is thought he spent his days in a "spiritual community" at the foot of the Pyrenees Mountains in France before making a break for it and being picked up by a lorry driver, who alerted authorities. Now the teen has finally come back to Britain following a police investigation.
READ MORE: Alex Batty lands in UK six years after being 'kidnapped' by mum and grandad
Alex and his grandfather, David Batty, who went by the name Peter, arrived at the remote Gite de la Bastide – an isolated farmhouse in the Pyrenees mountains – in the autumn of 2021, looking for a place to stay. The child's mother, Melanie Batty, was also with them but left to find a another community to live among.
The owners of the Gite, Frederic Hambye and Ingrid Beauve, treated Alex like he was family, including him on outings and giving him ‘free access’ to the fridge and ‘unlimited’ internet access. On Sundays he would meet up with his mother at one of the many markets that are held in valley villages of the Pyrenees.
He soon explained to his hosts that he planned to return to the UK to get an education, as they explained in a statement. The French couple explained how they only ever wanted the best for the British youngster and only learned of his real identity and his painful story of abduction from news reports last week.
Their statement read: "We are Ingrid and Fred, the owners of the gite de la Bastide and following the amalgams [myths] told in the press, we would like to give clarifications that will allow to better understand our role in the story of ‘Alex Batty’, who for us was called ‘Zach’ until last Thursday."
They added: "We were keen to help him (although we didn’t have parental authority since his family were in the area) and we encouraged him to learn French and study. In particular, we helped him find a school where he could be admitted without prior education. He showed a certain aptitude for computers.
Alex Batty: Everything we know about missing Brit boy found in France after six years
"He was eager to go school and get back to a normal life and for that he needed his ID which he told us he no longer had. When we learned that he did not have an ID we offered to drive him to the British Consulate. He told us he would find a way to return to the UK on his own to get new [identity] papers and go back to school. To this end, he told us, he left on Sunday December 17 to join his mother.
"We reiterated to him that he would always be welcome and that if needed, we were there for him. The rest, as well as his real name and full story, we discovered in the press at the beginning of this week. We wish him the best of luck."
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