Alex Batty: Missing boy found alive in France

Alex Batty, from Lancashire, north-west England, was just 11 years old when he went missing during a family holiday in Spain in 2017.

Alex was travelling with his mum, Melanie and grandfather David when he was apparently abducted, The Sun reports.

Neither his mum nor his granddad were supposed to be with him because of domestic difficulties when he vanished.

And the three of them were expected to leave Marbella after just two weeks, but never returned.

Police launched an investigation into his disappearance, but until today he remained missing.

His grandmother and official guardian Susan Caruana, thought they might have adopted “an alternative lifestyle” somewhere abroad.

She said at the time: “They didn’t want [Alex] to go to school, they don’t believe in mainstream school.”

Prosecutors believe Alex, who is now 17, has been found in Revel near Toulouse, southern France.

A local newspaper reported on Thursday: “The Alex Batty mystery is about to be solved.”

It said that while he didn’t show any official ID to police who questioned him, he was able to identify himself.

“His face and his story correspond in every way to that of the Briton kidnapped in 2017,” the story went on.

Investigators reportedly think Alex fled a rural community living in the Pyrenees mountains on foot.

He apparently hiked for days before a lorry driver picked him up and contacted police.

The teen reportedly told the story of what had happened to him “serenely and calmly”.

He is now apparently with social services while officials wait for his family to come forward.

Early reports from police suggest he was living in a “spiritual community” with his mother, mainly staying in tents and caravans.

This story first appeared in The Sun and was reproduced with permission.