Alex Batty

[DingDongBella]

What on earth has gone on here, I don’t remember the story first time around? Presumably they suspected his mother and grandfather had him if they were missing too. I wonder why the grandmother had parental responsibility in the first place.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-67718158

I don't remember it either and I'm sure I would because hia name ia very similar to a great friend's name so I would have thought it would have sort of registered with me.

Pleased he's been found and hope he is safe and well

Oh what an usual story. Glad he's been found safe and well.

From what I've read they knew where he was and that he was alive. They just couldn't get to him because he was in a commune. Over sensationalised headlines.

Where are you reading that? Doesn’t match up with any of the reporting or the grandmother’s prior Facebook posts?

If she has parental responsibility and they didn’t then surely the police would’ve gone in if they knew where he was?

Various reports say he had previously been living in a commune, the mother wanted him to live an alternative lifestyle and not go to school. In 2018 the grandmother said she believed he was in a commune in Morocco.

I wonder how he feels at 17? Presumably he has a say in whether to return or stay now?

But he wasn’t in Morocco.

The reports are that he left of his own free will. First thing he did was contact his grandmother.

@DingDongBella thats good to know. A very sad situation.

Mother and grandfather are missing and are wanted. Based on the reports in the press, they appear to be guilty of child abduction.

It isn't clear why grandmother had PR, but the only way she could have acquired it is through the courts. It could be simply that the child was living with her, and the courts granted PR on that basis, but it is more likely that there were serious concerns about his welfare.

@Gro Knowing that mother and grandfather may have taken him to Morocco and joined a commune is a long way from saying that David's whereabouts were known, or that they knew he was alive. It wasn't the case that they couldn't get to him because he was in a commune. Being in a commune would not have stopped the authorities. They couldn't get to him because they didn't know where he was. They weren't even sure which country he was in. The idea that he was in a commune in Morocco was speculation based on the fact that mum took him to one such commune three years prior to his disappearance. He was last seen in Spain.

What a sad situation.

It's all very vague at the moment isn't it.

Poor boy trekking through the mountains in these conditions for 4 days. Must have been terrifying and definitely not for the faint-hearted.

Poor boy trekking through the mountains in these conditions for 4 days.

On the basis of knowing this part of France very well I'd say the press might just perhaps over egging this bit of the story a tiny bit, giving the impression that he's just carried out some trek equivalent to crossing the Andes.

Unless he used one of the high passes to cross on foot from Spain to France in the last four days it will not have been anything like that.

It would be far to say that the weather hasn't been great down here over the last week but if he walked out of a commune or farm in the southern parts of the Ariege or Aude departments and remained below about 1000 metres level, he won't have been wading through snow but he will possibly have had a wet cold few days.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12866205/British-teenager-Alex-Batty-religious-commune-BRAINWASHED-kidnapped-mother-grandfather.html

Daily Fail have an "exclusive".

From what I have read, it looks like the mother had taken him to Morocco to live in a commune before, and that is why she initially lost custody, which was given to the grandmother. I'm not sure why. I'm presuming it would be something quite serious, as I'm sure you are allowed to take your own child to live wherever you want, and even allowed to take them out of school. She then, after losing custody, took him on holiday and didn't return him. So Morocco is a separate incident.

She took him to a commune in Morocco then abandoned him there while she went off to live with her new boyfriend in Bali, so the grandmother arranged to fly him home. His mother Skyped him occasionally.

Im delighted that the grandmother is alive and well to see him.

Seems like the police could have done more to find him. Poor lad had to wait until he was old enough to leave by himself.

Apparently grandfather died 6 months ago and mum was planning on moving to Finland which triggered Alex leaving as he didn’t want to move there. I read a bbc article about how many people live in that area of France off grid and living alternative lifestyles. I hope he can readjust to life back here and find happiness.

I read a bbc article about how many people live in that area of France off grid and living alternative lifestyles.

That whole strip of the northern edge of the Pyrenees is pretty remote and has an interesting history..lots of cross border smuggling back in the day, lots of Spanish escapees fled via through there during the Spanish Civil War and some very interesting goings on in WW2 - French resistance and a big Spanish Guerilla presence and also one of the main routes for escaped POWs and allied pilots heading southbound trying to get into Spain.

It's still very easy to hole up as part of a commune in a small hamlet or farm in the region and not really pop up on officialdom's radar.

I ve just watched the interview he gave to The Sun and he seems such a lovely young man but he said that if his Grandad can work technology they may see this interview but the BBC report that his grandfather died 6 months ago so wonder if there is a bit more to this story.

I’d treat the BBC report with caution.

Other accounts (certainly in French media and some in the UK MSM) have it that the grandfather was seen pushing a lawn mower around within the last two weeks.

Apparently he initially lied about his grandfather being dead because he was scared his mum and gf would get into trouble