Once-missing teenager Alex Batty will start his first classes in the UK education system today after being kidnapped and forced to live a “hippie life” with his mother across Europe.
Batty, 17, will undergo a series of assessments at Oldham University before starting some courses.
“My biggest dream is to go to university and get a proper education,” the teenager, who wants to go to university to study computer science, told The Sun.
“It’s going to feel like the first day of the rest of your life.
“I’m really motivated and want to get a crack and qualify as soon as possible.
Alex Batty, 17, will undergo a series of assessments at Oldham University before starting some courses.
The teenager, who wants to go to university to study computer science, told The Sun: “My biggest dream is to go to university and get a proper education.”
“I can’t wait to get started.”
Alex disappeared in 2017 after failing to return to the UK with his mother Melanie and grandfather David from a previously scheduled trip to Spain.
Greater Manchester Police issued a missing person alert for the boy, who was 11 years old at the time.
His mother dragged him around Europe for several years, settling in the south of France two years ago.
Batty said she was exploring a “spiritual life” with the support of her father and wanted to start an alternative community with like-minded people.
But she also revealed a little about why she fled the UK and took her son with her.
Alex Batty told how he ran away in the middle of the night and walked for miles
Alex flew to Malaga in September 2017 and was then taken to a “spiritual community” in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Investigators say Alex fled from a rural area in southern France and spent days trekking through the French Pyrenees before she was picked up by a truck driver and taken to a police station in Level, near Toulouse. I think so.
Speaking for the first time about his lifestyle and motherhood, Alex told The Sun: But she’s not just a great mother. She just doesn’t do the motherly things you’re supposed to do. She is not very warm and open. ”
His mother and the alleged kidnapper remain at large. She said Alex and her friends were talking about going to Finland to see the Northern Lights.
The boy persuaded his mother to move to a rented farmhouse instead of living in the mountains.
He was tired of moving and working in exchange for food and boarding, and during his six years away, the only friend he had made around his age was a Spanish girl he met at a cafe.
He said he taught himself the language and studied mathematics and computing from textbooks, but did not attend school.
Alex said he first questioned their alternative lifestyle and began considering future goals when he was 14 years old, telling The Sun that it “wasn’t a great way of living for my future,” and soon after. said he began weighing the opinions of “professionals” and the cons of fleeing to England.
Alex is pictured with his mother Melanie (left) and father David Batty (centre).
Alex Batty (pictured left) with his mother Melanie and grandfather David 6 years ago
Gite de la Bastide, part of the Pyrenees, where Alex lived as a teenager
“I don’t know what the future would hold if I stayed with my mother, but I can imagine what life would be like after the last few years,” he told The Sun. .
‘Move around. I have no friends and no social life. Work, work, work, and don’t study. That’s the life I imagined I would lead if I stayed with my mother.
“In the mountains, in the middle of nowhere. There’s no one my age. So when I was about 16, I talked to my grandpa about moving back to England.”
Alex said his mother was against the idea, adding that she was “worried” that if he returned to the UK he would be sheltered and become “a slave to the system”.
The 17-year-old boy escaped around midnight on Monday, December 11, while his mother was asleep in her bed. It all stems from an earlier argument between Alex, his mother, and his grandfather.
Armed with just his skateboard and a backpack filled with clothes and supplies, he set off for the nearest city, Toulouse, 110 miles away.
He packed four T-shirts, three pairs of pants, socks, pants, a flashlight, 100 euros and a Swiss Army knife.
He left a note for his mother that read: “Hey mom, I want you to know that I love you so much.” I’m so grateful for the life you’ve given me these past few years.
“Don’t worry, I won’t find you. Don’t worry about me either. You know I can take care of myself.
‘i love you very much. Please don’t get too angry. love alex ”
The boy was worried that his mother and grandfather would be arrested for kidnapping, so he lied to people he met on the street.
Alex, who used the alias Zach Edwards in France, made up a story about spending four days walking in the mountains.
The 17-year-old boy slept outdoors for the first time in the cold forest, drinking mountain spring water.
Now 17, he has been ‘afraid of the public glare’ since returning to the UK.
Alex (left) claimed that his grandfather David (right) was still alive and not dead six months ago (pictured with Alex’s mother Melanie, centre)
Alex said he was tired of his nomadic life and wanted to go home to see his grandma.
When he arrived in the town of Quillan, he bought a tuna baguette and ate it. But he waited until 6 p.m. to leave because he was worried his mother would drive by.
He said he tried to be “smart” and walked from Quillan back to Chalabre, asking for directions and telling people he met that he was lost.
But, he said, “I knew exactly where I was going.”
The boy added that he was forced to sleep on the “freezing” ground and had to use leaves and grass to go to the bathroom.
Alex said his escape plan was to travel to Toulouse and “run as far away as possible”.
But when he was found by the delivery driver, he was “very tired” and “just blurted out the story”.
“I wasn’t hitchhiking when he picked me up,” Alex told The Sun. “I was walking across a little bridge and he said he saw me with a skateboard so he stopped. It was raining and it was 3am so it was dark. was.
The distraught teenager said he feared he had said too much and was “slumped on the floor” when he was taken to the police station.
He said police took his fingerprints “about five times” and sent a photo to his grandmother.
From Wednesday to Friday, he spent the night at the nursing home and was then told he could fly home.
When he arrived at Toulouse airport, his other grandfather was waiting for him, along with two police officers and a social worker.
Alex said: “I was so happy to see him. I hugged him really hard.”
I boarded a flight to Amsterdam at 5pm, and my connecting flight to Manchester landed at 8:13pm.
Describing the moment he was reunited with his grandmother, he said he was “shaking” and “hugged” her tightly.
She added, “My home is different now, but I feel the same.” The biggest difference is that when I left home he was a boy, but now he’s 6 feet tall and too big for the bed. It feels great to be back. ”
