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Published December 22, 2023, 2:47 am ET
The British boy believed to have been kidnapped by his mother and grandfather while on holiday in Spain broke his silence on Thursday and revealed the heartbreaking news that he had abandoned his family before resurfacing after six years .
Alex Batty, now 17, detailed the moment he decided to leave his family behind in their French home and how he has survived alone in recent years.
“It was a normal day and I just decided it was time to go,” Batty, sitting next to his grandmother in the UK, told the Sun.
Batty, who was 11 when he disappeared, says he got into an argument with his mother Melanie and fled their accommodation in the French Pyrenees, where they had moved a day earlier in September 2017.
“We had a stupid argument about nothing,” Batty told the website. “My mother can argue about anything, so it doesn't take much. She is very set in her views.”
Batty said the argument was the final straw as he was fed up with the hippie lifestyle his mother forced on him.
Alex Batty was living in France with his mother Melanie and grandfather David in 2017 when he ran away at the age of 11. ITV
Batty then planned his escape, packing a small bag with clothes he deemed necessary while keeping a low profile from his family, and wrote a message to his mother on December 11, 2017.
“Hey mom, I want you to know that I love you very much,” the note, obtained by The Sun, reads. “I am very grateful for the life you have made possible for me over the last few years.”
“Don’t worry about yourself, I’m sure you won’t be found. Don't worry about me either, you know I can take care of myself. I love you very much, don't be too angry with me. -I love Alex.”
The trio were last seen together in Malaga port on October 8 – but never returned to the UK, the BBC reported.
Before Batty ran away, he wrote his mother a message telling her not to worry about him as he knew how to take care of himself. AP
Batty felt he had a difficult relationship with his mother after she separated from his father when he was only two years old.
“She is a good person. But she's just not a great mother. Quite simple, to be honest,” Batty told the website. “She just doesn’t do the motherly things that you’re supposed to do.
“She is not very warm and open. She doesn't really listen to anyone much. She is set in her own way. You can’t really change their beliefs or anything like that, and that’s just torture.”
Batty's decision to leave the country came after he felt that his mother's lifestyle would not provide him with a good future. She said she has strong “anti-government, anti-vaccination” views and believes most people are “slaves.”
While he expressed his many reservations about his mother, Batty said he had nothing but love for his grandfather David, 67, who filled a void left by his father's absence.
“I love my grandpa. I never knew my father, so my grandfather and step-grandfather raised me. Grandpa Batty is a great guy,” he told the outlet. “He’s just a lot more like your grandfather should be, teaching you and listening to me.”
While on the run, the teenager feared that his mother and grandfather might get into legal trouble, so he came up with another plan to throw the police “off the trail.”
“I lied to protect my mother and grandfather, but I realize they will probably get caught anyway,” Batty said. “I acted like I was on such a long journey for this reason.”
Living under the name Zack Edwards, he claimed to be a “very competent hiker” who knew directions, while part of his conspiracy was to claim he had gotten lost while searching for the French community of Quillan.
Batty sent his grandmother Susan Caruana a Facebook message when he was picked up by a truck driver in France earlier this month. CHRIS NEILL / MEGA
Batty was spotted by a delivery driver in the south of France on December 13 while walking over a bridge in the pouring rain in the middle of the night.
The driver, Fabien Accidini, allowed Batty to use his Facebook account to send messages to his grandmother Susan Caruana, who is his legal guardian.
Caruana later told the press that she believed Melanie and David took Batty because they had a “different belief system.”
He was placed in a nursing home for two days before being taken to Toulouse, a city in southern France, where he was picked up by his other grandfather before flying back to Britain without a passport.
Although he says he loves his mother, Batty felt that she did not fulfill her role in raising him as the two always had a difficult relationship, especially because his parents separated when he was only two years old. Handout for the family
Now that Batty is back in the UK with his grandmother, he has plans for his new life and says he wants to go to college while continuing to learn French.
“I want to study computer science or cybersecurity or blockchain development, so I will be very busy learning and getting up to speed.”
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