Alex Batty was kidnapped by his mother and grandfather during a holiday in Marbella (Málaga) and since then lived in a traveling "spiritual community" in the mountains between Ariège and Aude, on the French side of the Pyrenees.
When his mother informed him that they were leaving for Finland, the teenager, now 17 years old, left the community with the intention of joining his family in England. The young man walked for four days until a delivery man found him on a road.
Batty, who returned to the United Kingdom last Saturday, traveled to Oldham, near Manchester, where his grandmother and legal guardian, Susan Caruana, lives.
The young man has just given his first interview to the British media. Thus, The Sun newspaper has just published his words about how he lived those years.
According to the tabloid, Batty never went to school a single day. Instead, he learned languages and studied mathematics and computer science whenever he found a textbook.
"I started thinking about leaving when I was 14 or 15. I realized that it was not a good way to live for my future. I wouldn't know what would happen in my future if I stayed with my mother, but as of recent years I could get an idea of what it would have been like: many moves, no friends, no social life. Work, work, work and not study. It would always be the same, whether it was France or Spain, in the mountains, in the middle of nowhere, without people my age," says the teenager.
"When I was around 16, I talked to my grandfather about the possibility of returning to England. But my mother was against that idea. She was anti-establishment, also anti-vaccine. She was worried that if I went back and they identified me, I would lose my identity. custody. She wasn't really in favor of other opinions, while grandpa did listen to me," continues Batty, a Manchester United fan.
"My grandfather always said, 'I want you to do what's best for yourself.' He kept telling me that the reason he came with me is so he could make sure I was happy and healthy, with a roof over my head," she details. the teenager.
On Monday, December 11, around midnight and with his mother in bed, Alex left the house where they lived. He had filled a backpack with four t-shirts, three pants, socks, underpants, a skateboard, a flashlight, 100 euros and a Swiss army knife. His objective was to reach the nearest city, Toulouse, in the north of France.
His concern then was to ensure that the police did not locate his mother and grandfather, as he feared they could be arrested for child abduction.
Alex Batty, who used the name Zack Edwards in France, confessed: "I've been lying to try to protect my mother and grandfather, but I realize they'll probably get caught anyway. I pretended I'd been walking in the mountains four days for that reason.
Explaining his plan, he said: "I walked to Quillan and then back. I didn't get lost. I knew exactly where I was going. I just wanted to go back to make it a true story, to make it look like I was lost. I knew the area and I knew where there was. springs to get water.
"I slept outside on the ground. It was very cold. If I needed the bathroom I used leaves and grass. I wasn't even hitchhiking when that delivery guy picked me up. I was crossing a small bridge. It was pouring rain and it was completely dark, since it was three o'clock am".
"He was delivering packages, so I helped him, because it was the least I could do. He let me use his phone to contact my grandmother. After that, we called the police and a nearby patrol car took me to the nearest police station .
"Two gendarmes took me to another police station, where I showered, sat on the sofa and relaxed a bit until an English translator arrived. On Wednesday I spent the night in a reception center and was there on Thursday and Friday. Then They told me I could fly home and on Saturday I arrived at Toulouse airport, where my other grandfather was waiting for me with two police officers and a social worker. I was so happy to see him that I gave him a big hug."
"Even though the house is different, I still see it the same. The biggest difference is that when I left I was a child and now I'm too old for that bed. But I feel great to be back. I received a lot of help from social services and the police officer and I would like to go to university," Batty describes his future.
"I've learned a lot of French, so I'm not going to let it go. I'm going to continue studying. I want to get into computer science, cybersecurity or blockchain development, specifically, so I'll be busy catching up."
A judge has just ruled that the young man would remain under special legal protection and his grandmother Susan will take care of him until he turns 18 in two months, The Sun concludes the interview.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) has launched a criminal investigation into the case. GMP agents met with Batty after his return from France, an essential requirement so that the security authorities could confirm the nature of the investigation, according to information collected by the British channel BBC.
