Alex Batty wanted to return to the UK so he could go back to school and lead a “normal life”, his French hosts have claimed.
The teenager returned home on Saturday after being found in France –- six years after vanishing while on holiday with his mother, Melanie Batty, who is not his legal guardian, and grandfather, David Batty, in Spain.
Last Wednesday, he was discovered by a French motorist while walking along a road at the foot of the French Pyrenees, before arriving back in the UK to be reunited with his grandmother Susan Caruana on Saturday.
French prosecutors, who had spoken to the 17-year-old teenager, said he had lived a nomadic lifestyle with his mother and grandfather and had moved from place to place in Spain, Morocco and France.
Now the owners of a farmhouse in France where the teenager apparently regularly visited have released a statement on the boy’s stay.
Frederic Hambye and Ingrid Beauve said: “He was eager to go to school and get back to a normal life – and for that he needed his ID which he told us he no longer had.”
During his missing years, Alex reportedly stayed “on and off” with the pair at the Gite de la Bastide – their farmhouse in a hamlet at the foothill of the Pyrenees mountains.
“When we learned that he did not have an ID, we offered to drive him to the British consulate,” the couple continued.
“He told us he would find a way to return to the UK on his own to get new [identity] papers and go back to school. To this end, he told us, he left to join his mother.”
Alex Batty, now 17, was found in France after vanishing six years ago— (Family handout/PA)
They said they knew Alex as Zach and he arrived at the site with his grandfather and mother.
During his stays, Alex had his own room, unlimited free internet access, and freedom to come and go as he pleased, they said – adding that he also liked to cook, participate in life at the gite and enjoyed cycling and visiting the beach.
His grandfather worked as a handyman in exchange for room and board for himself and Alex, they said.
The farmhouse owners said Alex’s mother did not live at the property and during that time she stayed in “successive places of residence between Aude and Ariege” – around 30 miles north and 70 miles west of the farmhouse.
The D16 road in Chalabre where Alex Batty was found by a delivery driver— (Reuters)
The statement added: “As time went on, we saw him as part of our family and we think he appreciated the stability and security we represent for him.
“We encouraged him to learn French and study. In particular, we helped him find a school where he could be admitted without prior education. He showed a certain aptitude for computers.”
The whereabouts of Alex’s mother is unknown, although French prosecutors said he told them she intended to take him to Finland, which prompted his decision to return to the UK.
Greater Manchester Police said on Saturday night the force had yet to establish the full circumstances of Alex’s disappearance and whether or not a criminal investigation would be opened.
