Oldham teenager Alex Batty, who had been missing for six years after a holiday abroad, has been found in France.
Authorities in Toulouse reported that Alex is currently at a young person’s centre and may return to the UK soon.
The breakthrough occurred when Alex used a concerned motorist’s phone to send a facebook message to his grandmother in the UK, expressing his desire to come home.
Alex had been missing since 2017 when he went on a holiday with his mother Melanie Batty, 38, who does not have legal parental guardianship, and his grandfather David Batty, 59, on a pre-agreed trip when he was 11.
He flew with them to Malaga Airport for a week near Marbella. However, the family did not return to England as expected in October 2017.
The pair are yet to be found and are wanted in connection with his disappearance.
According to a police source, the concerned motorist, identified as delivery driver Fabien Accidini, spotted Alex walking through the rain near Toulouse, and took him to a police station.
Mr Accidini shared that Alex had been walking for four days, starting from a location in the mountains, though the specific details remained undisclosed.
When he looked Alex up online and said that he had been reported missing he reached out for assistance.
The teenager’s plan had been to reach a major city with an embassy for assistance, but instead, Mr. Accidini’s intervention led to the involvement of French authorities in facilitating his return.
Despite international public appeals, Alex’s legal guardian – his grandmother Susan Caruana – has not seen him since he left the UK.
