- Written by Hugh Schofield in Paris and Jacqueline Howard in London
- BBC News
image source, Greater Manchester Police
A 17-year-old British boy who was missing for six years has been found in France.
Alex Batty is in a youth center in Toulouse and could return to the UK within hours, the city's public prosecutor's office told the BBC.
Alex used the driver's mobile phone to send a message to his grandmother in the UK: “I love you and I want to go home.''
He had been missing since 2017, but was found by a driver on Wednesday morning while walking in the rain near Toulouse.
The boy went missing after vacationing in Spain with his mother and grandfather.
The pair have never been found because Alex has no parental guardianship, but they are wanted in connection with her disappearance.
A police source earlier told BBC News that the boy was taken to a police station by a concerned driver who spotted him on a road in the foothills of the Pyrenees early on Wednesday morning.
Fabian Accidini, a car driver and delivery driver, spotted Alex walking along a road in the foothills of the Pyrenees early Wednesday morning.
“He explained that he had been walking for four days and that he started from a certain place in the mountains, but he did not say where,” Accidini said.
“I typed his name into the internet and found out he was being searched,” he said.
Assidini told local media that Alex's plan was to find a large city with an embassy to find help. Instead, Assidini turned to French authorities for help.
Alex used Aksidini's Facebook account to contact her grandmother in the UK.
“Hello grandma, this is Alex. I'm in Toulouse, France. I really hope this message gets through. I love you and I want to go home,” she wrote.
Alex Batty (centre) disappeared along with his mother, Melanie Batty, and grandfather, David Batty.
Police sources said the boy had been in France for two years, adding that he looked a lot like Alex's last known photo.
He lived in a remote valley in the Pyrenees and traveled from place to place in a kind of itinerant commune.
This region at the foot of the Pyrenees is known for attracting people looking for a new lifestyle.
Prosecutors told the BBC that Alex would not say exactly where his mother was or where in the Pyrenees she lived.
His grandmother and legal guardian, Susan Caruana, told The Sun that she is currently in contact with Alex.
“I'm very happy. I talked to him and he's fine,” she said. “I'm very shocked.”
Caruana told the BBC in 2018 that he believed Alex's mother, Melanie Batty, and grandfather, David Batty, took him to live in a spiritual community in Morocco.
She said at the time they were exploring a different lifestyle and didn't want Alex to go to school.
Melanie and David Batty left Greater Manchester with Alex on 30 September 2017 for a pre-agreed week-long holiday to Marbella, Spain.
He was last seen at the port of Malaga on October 8, 2016, when he was due to return to the UK.
British police were contacted through the British Embassy in Paris.
Greater Manchester Police confirmed it was in contact with French authorities to “put security measures in place”.
“This is a complex and long-term investigation that requires appropriate safeguards and further investigation,” the spokesperson said.
“We are supporting British nationals in France and are liaising with local authorities,” the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) said in a statement.
Additional reporting on Toulouse by Chris Bockman
