A British teenager who resurfaced six years after disappearing in France has told a newspaper he decided to return to Britain because he wanted a better future.
Issued on: December 22, 2023 – 11:01 a.m. Modified: 12/22/2023 – 10:57 am
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Alex Batty, 17, disappeared with his mother and grandfather in Spain in October 2017 but turned up last week in a mountainous region of southern France.
Batty told the Sun tabloid in an interview published on Friday that he decided to leave the couple after he grew tired of floating around Europe with them.
“I realized it wasn't a good way for my future to live,” said the teenager, who is back under the legal guardianship of his maternal grandmother in Oldham, northern England.
“Move. No friends, no social life. Work, work, work and don't study. This is the life I imagined if I stayed with my mother.”
Batty was found walking near Toulouse by a delivery driver earlier this month. He was in good health.
The teenager told French investigators he lived in a “spiritual community” and never stayed in the same place for more than several months.
“She's a great person and I love her, but she's just not a great mother,” Batty told the Sun, referring to his mother Melanie Batty.
He added that she is “anti-government, anti-vaccination” whose watchword is to “become a slave to the system.”
“I had a fight with my mom and I just thought I'd leave because I can't live with her,” Batty said.
He told the newspaper that his grandfather David Batty was still alive after French investigators reported he died six months ago.
Batty also said he had only been running for two days when he was found, not the four he had told French police.
He said he lied to investigators to protect his mother, who he believes wants to go to Finland, and his grandfather.
Batty added that he will be “busy learning and catching up” and that he hopes to eventually work in the technology sector.
(AFP)