Alex Batty, pictured before his disappearance, was living in Europe with mum Melanie (inset) and grandad David (Picture: GMP/PA)

The mum of a teenage boy who was missing for six years told her landlord ‘we had to leave in the middle of the night’ after finding out he’d turned himself in to police.

Alex Batty went missing in 2017 after he never returned from a week-long holiday in Spain with his mum Melanie and grandad David.

But he was found in France last week after leaving the ‘spiritual’ community they’d been living in and being picked up by a lorry driver, who helped him hand himself into police.

He spent his first night in the UK for six years last weekend and has been reunited with his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana.

He had lived a ‘nomadic’ lifestyle with his mum and grandad, rarely staying in one place for more than a few weeks – but it seems his mum upped sticks and left her most recent home sooner than anticipated.

Melanie is believed to be travelling with a close Italian friend who she calls her ‘disciple’, the Sun reports.

Alex and his family had previously stayed at this Gite de la Bastide lodging (Picture: Matthieu RONDEL/AFP)

Alex was 11 when he went missing (Picture: PA)

She fled her rented home in the hamlet Villefort, near Chalabre in the Aude, on December 15, the day after the news of Alex’s reappearance hit international headlines.

In an email to the landlord, Tony Smith, on December 16 she said: ‘I’m so sorry but we had to leave in the middle of the night. I expect you’ve seen the news by now. I’ve left the keys on the bar.’

Then last Wednesday she sent another email to landlord Tony saying: ‘One day I will return.’

Tony, 81, knew Melanie as Rose, while David called himself Peter and Alex was known as Zack.

He said: ‘When Alex did a runner she must have thought the game was up and it’s time to go.

‘I hadn’t seen the news. I was told by a friend the next day. I had no clue what was going on and I was shocked that Rose was Melanie and Zack was Alex.

‘I can’t find the keys anywhere. She left a lot of personal things and I think that’s why she is holding on to them – so she can come back and get her stuff.

‘She started making plans as she paid me the rent two days before she went and she packed up and cleaned the whole house, putting all the belongings she was leaving behind in the attic.

‘She took her tabby. She adored that cat, Sky.

‘She wants to come back. I’m sure. She was very well-liked.’

Alex never returned home after going on holiday to Spain with mum Melanie and grandad David

Piles of belongings were left in the rented home when Melanie fled, including suitcases full of clothes, Alex’s PlayStation and games, a laptop, books and games, and health food and milk.

Greater Manchester Police, who retrieved Alex from France and flew him home last week, are now treating his case as an abduction.

Alex said he left his mum because he wanted to return to England and receive a proper education – after trying to apply to a French IT college earlier this year.

More: Trending

Tony added: ‘I think she’s in Spain now. Either that or she’s being helped by a commune. I’ve told her to turn herself in so all this can be resolved.

‘She will be very short of money. She had given the last of her money to me to clear her debt which was decent of her.

‘She’s a good person and I believe the only crime she’s committed is loving her son.’

Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at [email protected].

For more stories like this, check our news page.

‘I’m so sorry but we had to leave in the middle of the night. I expect you’ve seen the news by now.’