The British teenager found alive in France six years after being kidnapped sent a message to his grandmother telling her he wanted to “come home”, according to new reports.
Alex Batty, now 17, was found in the south of France on Wednesday and his family officially confirmed his identity on Thursday, the BBC reported.
The teenager was reportedly picked up on the side of the road by a passing delivery driver, Fabien Accidini, who allowed him to use his Facebook account to message his grandmother.
“Hello grandma, it’s me Alex. I am in France Toulouse. I really hope you get this message. I love you, I want to come home,” Batty’s message allegedly read.
Susan Caruana, Batty’s grandmother, was his legal guardian when he first disappeared in 2011.
He is too frail to travel to France, but was reunited with his grandson via video call, the BBC explained.
“I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found safe and well,” Caruana said in a statement through Greater Manchester Police.
“I spoke to him last night and it was really good to hear his voice and see his face again. “I can’t wait to see him when we meet,” she added.
Alex Batty was found in France on Wednesday. family brochure
“I said to myself, ‘That’s strange. It’s 3 in the morning, it’s raining, he’s alone on the road between two towns,” Accidini said of the moment he noticed Batty standing on the side of the road.
The teen had nothing but a backpack, a skateboard and a flashlight, and said he had been walking for four days, Accidini recalled.
Batty told Accidini that he had been living in a nomadic community with his mother and had left to start his own life, the driver said.
Batty’s grandmother met him via video call. CHRIS NEILL / MEGA
“I wrote his name on the Internet and saw that they were searching for him,” Accidini told the BBC.
Batty’s original plan was to reach a big city and find an embassy to ask for help, he added.
Batty was just 11 years old when his mother, Melanie Batty, and maternal grandfather, David Batty, neither of whom had custody of him, took him to Spain for a pre-arranged vacation on September 30, 2017.
The trio were last seen in Malaga port on October 8, but never returned to the UK.
The D16 road where Alex Batty was found in France. REUTERS
Caruana, who had legal guardianship of him, later told the press that he believed Melanie and David took the boy because they had a “different belief system.”
David Batty is believed to have died about six months ago, French prosecutor Antoine Leroy said at a news conference Thursday.
However, Melanie Batty may have already left France for Finland, Leroy added.
Batty was just 11 years old when she disappeared in 2011. AP
Melanie and David led Batty to a nomadic life in which they often traveled with solar panels, the prosecutor continued.
The trio lived in Morocco before arriving in France, and Batty appeared to have left his mother because he did not want to follow her to Finland, Leroy said.
Batty is now in a youth center in Toulouse and could return to the UK with police and other officials, the BBC reported.
Prosecutor Antoine Leroy said Batty’s mother may have already left France for Finland. AFP via Getty Images
“Alex and his family remain our target, and we still have work to do to establish the full circumstances surrounding his disappearance and where he has been,” said Deputy Chief Constable Chris Sykes of Greater Manchester Police.
“I can only imagine the emotions they have experienced during this ordeal. “I would ask that they be granted privacy as they come to terms with what has happened and as they try to find a way to move forward with their lives together.”
With post cables
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Source: vtt.edu.vn