U.K. police said Friday that they are “relieved and overjoyed” to learn that a teenager found walking along a road in southwestern France is a British boy who went missing six years ago.
Greater Manchester Police said the teen claiming to be Alex Batty had held a video call with his grandmother, Susan Caruana.
“Whilst she is content that this is indeed Alex, we have further checks to do when he returns to the United Kingdom,” Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes said.
He said police were “still establishing the full circumstances around his disappearance and where he has been all these years.”
“Our main priority now is to see Alex returned home to his family in the U.K. and our investigation team are working around the clock with partner agencies and the French authorities to ensure they are all fully supported,” Sykes said.
Batty, now 17, went on vacation to Spain in 2017 with his mother and grandfather, who are not his legal guardians, and failed to return to his family in the Manchester area.
A delivery driver spotted the adolescent looking lost and haggard by the side of a road near Toulouse on Wednesday night and drove him to a police station.
The driver, Fabien Accidini, said the teenager told him he had been “kidnapped” and was living in a “spiritual community” in Spain before moving to France about two years ago.
Accidini told Sky News the teen told him he had decided to leave because “he just wanted to live a normal life, to see his grandmother again and to have a normal future – that’s the word that he used.”
The teen said he had been walking in the mountainous area for four days, the driver said.
Greater Manchester Police said the teen’s mother, Melanie Batty, and his grandfather, David Batty, are wanted in connection with his disappearance and that their whereabouts are unknown.
