Alex revealed he wrote a ‘goodbye’ letter to his mum 20 minutes before he left (Picture: The Sun)
Teenager Alex Batty has revealed he decided to return to the UK for a better future after clashing with his mother, saying she was ‘a great person but not a great mum’.
He was 11 when he went on holiday with mother Melanie Batty and grandad David Batty in 2017 but never returned, spending the next six years wandering across Europe living an ‘alternative’ lifestyle.
Speaking to The Sun, Alex said he first thought of leaving when he was 14, having become fed up of his nomadic existence, with no friends and no social life.
Now 17, he finally decided to make his escape following a row, telling the newspaper: ‘I had an argument with my mum and I just thought I’m gonna leave because I can’t live with her.
‘It was a normal day and I just decided it’s time to leave.’
He revealed he wrote a ‘goodbye’ letter to his mum telling her ‘how much I loved her, how much I appreciated what she had done for me’ and that he didn’t want her to worry.
He said: ‘I wrote that note 20 minutes before I left.’
Alex was 11 when he went on holiday with mother Melanie Batty and grandad David Batty in 2017 but never returned (Picture: PA)
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He was picked up by chiropody student Fabien Accidini near Toulouse in the early hours of Wednesday last week after walking across the Pyrenees and is now with his gran in Oldham.
It is thought Alex had been living with his mother and grandfather, who had taken him on the trip to Spain in September 2017 – across Spain, Morocco and France while he was missing.
Alex said: ‘For the first few years, when I was in Spain, it was a vacation really, spending most days doing whatever I wanted, reading, drawing, going to the beach.’
He said he ‘started to pick up slack’ at around 14, taking on odd jobs in construction, decoration, and renovation work.
‘I had a non-existent social life to be honest,’ he said, adding he didn’t go to school and instead learned languages along with some maths and computing after finding a textbook.
He described making only one friend while he was gone ‘and it was the only person really that I’d met for the entire six years that was even close to my age’.
Melanie Batty (dressed in white) sitting next to her father David Batty (in denim shirt) and her son Alex Batty (in Black T-shirt) at the Esperaza market in June 2023 (Picture: Steve Reigate)
It was around the same age that he says he ‘started thinking about going back to England’.
Speaking about his mum, who he described as ‘anti-government, anti-vax’, he told the newspaper: ‘I realised it wasn’t a great way to live for my future.
‘Moving around. No friends, no social life. Working, working, work and not studying. That’s the life I imagined I would be leading if I were to stay with my mum.’
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Alex was described as ‘tired’ but ‘in good health’ after being checked over by French officials and seemed ‘intelligent’ even though he had not attended school for six years.
After being looked after by the French authorities, Alex met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport on Saturday before boarding a flight back to the UK, Greater Manchester Police said.
He can now look forward to spending time with family members, friends and others he grew up with in Greater Manchester, where he was living as a young boy before he disappeared and police say is ‘where he wants to be’.
A police investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance is ongoing.
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‘It was a normal day and I just decided it’s time to leave.’