A young 17-year-old British man, Alex Batty, who disappeared in 2017 at the age of 11, has just been found in France near Toulouse and should soon return to his country, we learned from prosecutors on Thursday.
“We confirm the identity (of Alex Batty). Now he will return to Britain,” the Toulouse prosecutor’s office told AFP, confirming information from the BBC and the daily La Dépêche du Midi.
For its part, the police in Greater Manchester in northwest England, where the boy comes from, said in a press release that they were in contact with the French authorities to obtain details.
“It is a complex and long search. “Further investigations need to be carried out,” a spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said.
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According to the BBC, citing a police source, the young man, who is in good health, said he had not been ill-treated.
British media recall that he disappeared while on holiday abroad with his mother and grandfather.
His grandmother, who had custody of him, told the BBC in 2018 that she believed Alex's mother and grandfather had taken him to live in a “spiritual community” in Morocco.
According to her, they did not want the teenager to go to school and were looking for an alternative lifestyle.