Alex Batty’s mother flees French bolthole after he goes public – and leaves all her son’s belongings in the hideaway
Kidnapped teenager Alex’s mother Batty fled her remote hideout in France hours after learning the teenager was returning to the UK.
Melanie Batty reportedly left her rented home on an “all-night chase” with her belongings after her son reappeared after six years on the run in Europe.
But suitcases full of the 17-year-old’s clothes, PlayStation games, laptop, books, games, health food and milk were abandoned at the £480-a-month four-bed house in the village of Villefort near Chalabres in Aude.
According to The Sun, Alex’s mother is reportedly traveling with close Italian friend Fabrizio and only communicates with people via email.
Before leaving, the 43-year-old emailed her landlord: “I’m so sorry, but we had to leave in the middle of the night. I think you’ve already seen the news. I left my keys at the bar.
Melanie Batty left her rented house with her belongings late at night after her son reappeared after six years on the run in Europe.
Alex returned to this country on Saturday, December 16, abandoning his family’s hippie lifestyle and deciding to get a decent education.
Alex was 11 when he left the UK for a week’s holiday in Spain with his mum and 64-year-old grandfather David in 2017.
Last Wednesday she sent another email saying, “One day I will be back.”
Alex was 11 when he left the UK for a week’s holiday in Spain with his mum and 64-year-old grandfather David in 2017.
He returned to this country on Saturday, December 16, abandoning his family’s hippie lifestyle and deciding to get a decent education.
Alex is now back in Oldham, reunited with his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana, 68.
He was represented by lawyers at a family court hearing at Manchester Civil Courts today.
She reportedly took him to live with a traveling “spiritual community” and a police investigation into the circumstances surrounding his disappearance is ongoing, a court has heard.
A neighbor in France said Melanie was last seen on Tuesday getting into a white car belonging to Fabrizio.
One of her friends said Melanie contacted her and said she was “tired of running” but “felt like she had no choice.”
A friend said: “She thinks she is on some mission from God and says she has given her life to a higher spirit.”
Alex flew to Malaga in September 2017 and was then sent to a “spiritual community” in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Investigators believe Alex fled the southern French countryside and traveled for several days in the French Pyrenees before being picked up by a truck driver who took him to a police station in Revel, near Toulouse.
Gite de la Bastide in the part of the Pyrenees where teenager Alex Batty lived.
Spiritual community “Garden of Eden”, where Melanie Batty lived in France.
Landlord Tony Smith, 81, knew her as Rose, David called himself Peter and Alex called himself Zach.
He said: “When Alex was running she must have just thought it was game over and it was time to go.
“She started making plans when she paid my rent two days before she left, packed up and cleaned the whole house, putting all the things she left in the attic.
“She took her tabby cat. She adored this cat Skye.
The Oldham man first met Melanie last summer at the Cafe de Sports bar in the small mountain town of Chalabre and she moved into a converted cowshed on December 5.
Tony believes she will return as she is well loved in the area.
Melanie said Tony needed a place to stay after the commune she was staying at received “marching orders” in early November.
Soon after, she brought Alex and David to meet Tony in hopes that he would give them a job renovating another one of his houses.
He recalls that Alexey asked him how he could get an education at such a late age, to which the landlord suggested joining the army.
He also said that Melanie had turned off her phone and was using email to communicate with friends. He believes that she is now in Spain.
Greater Manchester Police are treating his case as a kidnapping.