British teenager Alex Batty has spoken out about his escape from France for the first time, saying he realised he could no longer live his mother’s lifestyle.
The 17-year-old told the Sun he realised he could no longer live with his “anti-government, anti-vax” mother after an argument, saying she was “a great person but not a great mum”.
Alex said he had become fed up of his nomadic lifestyle and said of his mother, Melanie Batty: “She’s a great person and I love her but she’s just not a great mum.”
The teenager is now back in the UK under the legal guardianship of his grandmother Susan Caruana in Oldham, Greater Manchester.
He told the newspaper that he no longer felt able to live the same lifestyle as he had been doing and said he wanted to return to education.
During his entire time away he said he had only made one friend, a Spanish girl he met in a cafe.
Alex did not return from a holiday to Spain when he was 11, in 2017, and is said to have lived an “alternative” lifestyle abroad before deciding to return home.
He was picked up by chiropody student Fabien Accidini near the French city of Toulouse in the early hours of Wednesday last week after walking across the Pyrenees “for four days and four nights”.
After being looked after by the French authorities, Alex met his step-grandfather at Toulouse airport on Saturday before boarding a flight back to the UK, Greater Manchester Police said.
He can now look forward to spending time with family members, friends and others he grew up with in Greater Manchester, where he was living as a young boy before he disappeared and police say is “where he wants to be”.
It is thought Alex had been living with his mother and grandfather across Spain, Morocco and France while he was missing.
Last week, French prosecutors said the teenager’s mother – who does not have legal parental guardianship, may be in Finland.
Antoine Leroy told reporters Alex had said he knew his way of life with his mother “had to stop” after she announced an intention to move to Finland.
This led him to walk for “four days and four nights” across the Pyrenees, the prosecutor said.