Alex Batty, aged 18 this Tuesday, February 13, 2024, will not celebrate his birthday alongside his mother.
After six years on the run in Europe, the young Briton confides in
The Mirror
newspaper and says he hopes that his mother Melanie and his grandfather David will not take the risk of contacting him on this very special day.
His mother and grandfather, who did not have parental authority over the child, had kidnapped him in 2017, while enjoying a vacation in Spain.
For six years, the three members of the family moved regularly between Spain and France.
But on December 13, 2023, Alex left the farm where he lived after a family argument.
A delivery man spotted this child walking alone in the middle of the night on a road near Toulouse and handed him over to the police after Alex revealed his identity to him.
“Mom did it for love”
“Mom did what she did out of love. That's what she thought was best. She and my grandfather did it with the best intentions
,” he told the
Mirror
today .
The young man explains that he knows that they will not come into contact with him so as not to take the risk of revealing their whereabouts, while they are actively wanted for child kidnapping.
“I hope the police don’t find them.
I love them both, but if I don't see them again, it's no big deal.
You can love someone and not talk to them
,” he continues in the columns of the British newspaper.
Also read “Inexistence of the real world”: what we know about the disappearance of Alex Batty for 6 years in a strange community
Now far from his mother, Alex Baty senses the anger that his “escape” may have aroused in her.
“She’ll probably be upset that I left.
I think she will be angry that I didn't listen to her.
If I could talk to both of them now, I would just say, 'I hope you're okay,' and I'd tell them I'm okay,”
he says.
Rehabilitation to normal life
Alex Batty now lives in Greater Manchester in a house with his grandmother Susan Caruana, Melanie's mother and David's ex-wife.
He tells the British press how he is readjusting to life in England.
He explains in particular that he is taking a computer programming course, that he is starting a possible future romance and that he is thinking of getting a tattoo.
The Briton also looks back on his long years of wandering.
For example, he says his mother decided after about three months in Spain that it was time to change her name.
That's why he called himself Zack Edwards.
“It’s strange telling people my name is Alex again.
The first time I sent my email after receiving Alex's name, it was really strange
,” he explains to the tabloid.
“I still don’t feel like I’m back.”
He also reveals that he has lived in 15 different places in six years.
“We started in Spain, where we stayed for three years in the
Valencia region
.
Then we moved to the Arias area for about two and a half years and stayed in different campsites and houses.
Our last location was the farm at La Bastide
.
It was very isolated and we didn't have a car, so it was difficult
.
The young man explains that he has only made one Spanish friend his age during all this time.
All these years, he was isolated from other children because he was out of school.
“I've found it difficult since I started talking to people my age again.
I’ve been around adults since I was 11,”
he admits to the
Mirror
.
“I still don’t feel like I’m back.
I'm not really integrated yet.
I think it will probably hit me soon, but it hasn't yet
,” he continues.
Also readAlex Batty speaks for the first time: why the young Briton lied to the police
Alex, now an adult, wants to live a normal life: become a computer engineer, buy a house, get married and start a family.
“I want to find a decent job so that when I have a wife and children, they don't have to worry about money like I did
,” he continues.
“It feels really good to be back
,” he adds to the daily.
And to conclude:
“Almost everything is a new experience at the moment.
I don't miss being in France or Spain much.
None of it was good
. ”