ALEX Batty has been found alive in France six years after he vanished on a family holiday.
The British boy was on a trip to Spain with his mum, Melanie, 37, and grandfather David, 58, when he was apparently abducted in 2017.
The trio were expected to leave Marbella after just a week in the town of Benahavis, but never returned.
Here’s everything you need to know about Alex Batty’s grandfather David.
Who is David Batty?
David Batty, 58, is the grandfather of missing British boy Alex Batty.
The young boy, who disappeared in 2017, was only supposed to be in Marbella for a week on a pre-agreed trip with David and his mum, Melanie, 37.
But the family never returned home to Oldham, Greater Manchester – leaving his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana devastated.
Alex has reportedly been living in a rural “spiritual community” in the Pyrenees mountains in caravans and tents with Melanie and David.
What happened to Alex Batty?
Alex Batty, from Lancashire, was just 11-years-old when he went missing during a family holiday in Spain in 2017.
Alex was travelling with his mum, Melanie, 37, and grandfather David, 58, when he was apparently abducted.
He had flown out on a pre-agreed trip with his mum and grandad, but his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana remained behind in the UK.
And the three of them were expected to leave Marbella after just a week in the town of Benahavis, but never returned.
Cops launched an investigation into his disappearance, but until today he remained missing.
They had been expected home on October 8 in 2017, but inquiries at the time suggested they may have sailed that day from Malaga to Mellilla on the Moroccan border.
His grandmother Susan, then 62, thought they might have adopted “an alternative lifestyle” somewhere abroad.
Where was Alex Batty found?
Alex was found alive and well in France on Thursday after hiking through the Pyrenees mountains for days to escape the “spiritual” commune where he’d been living.
The first words Alex, now 17, said to a lorry driver who picked him up on the side of the road were: “My mother kidnapped me when I was 12 years old”.
Fabien Accidini, a student from Toulouse who has a part-time job delivering medicines by lorry, said he spotted the English teenager on Wednesday.
Alex reportedly said he did not know exactly where he had been living in France, except that it was “in the mountains between Ariège and Aude.”
Concerned driver Accidini contacted police and on the way to the station Alex borrowed his phone to message his grandmother and tell her he was alive.
Alex reportedly said he did not know exactly where he had been living in France, except that it was “in the mountains between Ariège and Aude.”
Concerned driver Accidini contacted police and on the way to the station Alex borrowed his phone to message his grandmother and tell her he was alive.
