A BRITISH teen who lived for years in a hippy commune apparently stored his actual identification beneath wraps with a faux identify whereas sheltering with a French household.
Alex Batty is claimed to have first arrived on the family’s home in 2021 and confided in them about his want to reside a “regular life” earlier than escaping a commune in the mountains.
Going by the identify “Zach”, Alex typically lived at a distant vacation gite [cottage] within the La Bastide hamlet with Frédéric Hambye and Ingrid Beauve.
Alex’s mum Melanie, who’s believed to have kidnapped him when he was just 11 , would allegedly depart her teenage son there whereas she was “searching for a spot to reside” in a religious neighborhood.
Hambye and Beauve claimed they welcomed Alex into their household and he lived and labored on the distant gite, north of the Pyrenees, for months at a time.
His grandad David, believed to be concerned in his abduction, can be mentioned to have worked there as a handyman in change for food and lodging.
The French couple, who had children of their very own, mentioned Alex was “wanting to go to high school and get again to a standard life” even earlier than he confided his plans in them to return house.
In a press release posted to the native Fb web page, they claimed he dreamt of working in Canada with computer systems and in accordance with them, was tech-savvy.
They mentioned: “As time went on, we noticed him as a part of our household and we predict he appreciated the soundness and safety we symbolize.”
In response to the couple, Alex beloved to cycle, cook dinner and sometimes made beef stew, chocolate cake, pasta bolognese and veggie dishes.
The teen would apparently meet her on the Sunday hippy market in Espéraza, the place he loved a tuna baguette.
Thierry Strub, who works there, described him as “a really good boy.”
“We loved time collectively in summer season, like biking on the railway observe, visiting the seaside and the river,” the couple added.
House owners of the Gîte de la Bastide in Camps-sur-l’Agly within the Aude area, southeast of Toulouse, Hambye and Beauve mentioned their hamlet was not the religious commune his mum was searching for.
He would apparently be a part of his mum sporadically “in her successive locations of residence between the Aude and Ariège”, however typically stayed with them for lengthy durations.
Hambye and Beauve revealed “she was searching for a spot to reside in a neighborhood.
“La Bastide doesn’t have this ambition. Nor are we a religious neighborhood.”
Regardless of having limitless entry to the web, Alex appears to not have made any try and contact exterior assist as he lived there beneath “Zach” on and off for years.
When he determined to go house, the now 17-year-old apparently refused the couple’s provide to drive him to the British consulate.
They mentioned: “He informed us that he would discover a solution to return to the UK on his personal to get new papers and return to high school.”
“We reiterated to him that he would all the time be welcome and if wanted, we had been there to assist him.
“The remainder in addition to his actual identify and full story, we found within the press in the beginning of this week. We want him one of the best of luck.”
Alex apparently dreamt of working in Canada with computer systems however wanted the paperwork to have the ability to research at a school in France.
He had reportedly tried to “enrol in a school” in the town of Quillan in November, in accordance with La Depeche.
He couldn’t present any identification papers, so teachers contacted police concerning the British teenager, who spoke little French.
“The gendarmes tried to contact the English authorities,” mentioned an investigating supply, however “there was a hiccup which didn’t permit the report back to be adopted up”.
Alex then fled via the Pyrenees for 4 days desperate to get hold of a UK ID card when a lorry driver discovered him final week.
He informed the younger delivery driver who found him walking along the side of a rural street in south west France on Wednesday: “I would like a future.”
Household associates have claimed his mum and grandad had grow to be obsessive about cult-like concepts and abandoned their normal lives in Greater Manchester to fight ‘the establishment’, the banks and bailiffs.
On Saturday evening, Alex was lastly reunited with gran Susan Caruana, 68, in Oldham, Better Manchester.
His is about to have additional talks with Manchester Police to debate the final six years and whether or not he has been the sufferer of crime.