Alex Batty speaks out on six-year disappearance in BBC | UK News

“Do you know, it’s funny, it was like they put a spell on me. It was like they made me say ‘yes you can go’. I can’t explain why I said yes.” Yet on the day Alex was due to return home, Susan acquired a video from Alex’s mom.

In the footage, Alex read from a script: “It upsets me to tell you the truth because I don’t like hurting your feelings. I want to live with my mummy and grandad. It is one million times better. Stealing me from your daughter is soulless, it is not nice.

“If you aren’t egocentric and need the best for me then please don’t get anyone to look for us. Look into your coronary heart and assume what I need. Again, assume what I need, not you need. Goodbye.” All contact then ceased entirely.

In the documentary, Alex reflected on his period spent at campsites across France, where he lived with his mother and grandfather for nearly a year in 2022, five years into his disappearance. He explained: “We have been always attempting to be tight with money. I used to eat one meal a day. Just pasta and sauce on its own for lord is aware of how long. That’s just how I used to eat.

“My mum would tell me constantly, ‘you need to do spiritual work’, ‘you need to do inner work’, but when I was 15, I started really thinking for myself. So, I’d try and find my own answers and when I did, if they differed in any way it would start a row. It was constant battles, constant arguments, constant yelling. So, she kicked me out of her campervan.

“I used to be residing in a tent for a few months while my mum had this very nice heat campervan next to me. It was wintertime, raining, it was moist, it was cold all the time, and my mum was residing in this campervan with heating, water and electric, and would slightly me sleep exterior in a tent.”

The documentary uncovers several occasions where Alex could have been rescued. While speaking to campsite proprietors Angelique and Serena, Alex questioned why they had been permitted to remain without presenting valid identification.

Angelique explained: “His mum said they’d misplaced them. And there have been problems. They had to disguise because they have been in hazard. I’ve a coronary heart, so I accepted.

“Did you guys ever know who I was? My real name, my real identity?” Alex requested. “No, not at all, sorry. We would have called the police. Besides, I regret not doing it”, Angelique responded. It is during this exchange that Alex discovers a call was made to French social companies — a call that might have resulted in his rescue. The documentary reveals how Serena had witnessed Alex sleeping in a small tent throughout the bitter winter months.

“She decided to make you sleep outside in winter. It was very cold, in a small tent… from September to March approximately”, Serena said. “And then she left you like that to punish you. And so, then I thought it was a bit of abuse.

“I assumed she was actually not a accountable mum. And so, I called social companies, besides they told me that you have been a foreigner and as I didn’t have your true id, they could not do something.” Alex later shared this bombshell with his grandmother during a phone call. The French social services bureau, France Enfance Protégée, informed the BBC they were unable to comment on Alex’s particular case due to reasons of confidentiality.

Following a gruelling winter at the campsite, Alex, his mother and grandfather returned to staying with Ingrid and Fred, a couple who ran a B&B and had offered Alex and his grandfather free lodgings in exchange for work around the property.

Ingrid spoke to the BBC about the moment she realised Alex craved an education, saying: “I believe there was a turning level. One time I used to be going to the store without him, and he said ‘oh please are you able to buy me a pocket book with traces or squares…’ And I said ‘oh you need a pocket book?’. He said ‘yeah, I need a college pocket book such as you use at college.’ He said: “I want to study online. I want to try to catch up. I want to be able to go back to school”I believe there was a turning level. One time I used to be going to the store without him, and he said ‘oh please are you able to buy me a pocket book with traces or squares…’ And I said ;oh you need a pocket book?’. He said ‘yeah, I need a college pocket book such as you use at college.’

‘He said: I need to examine online. I need to attempt to catch up. I need to give you the option to go back to college’. That’s how I obtained conscious that really he was not so joyful about being in this distant life.” Ingrid subsequently brought Alex to Ecole 42, a coding college in Perpignan.

Marie, a member of staff at Ecole 42, who was with Alex at the time, featured in the documentary and revealed that he provided them with a false name of Zach Edwards but he ultimately disclosed his real name.

“As soon as they left, I told my colleague, how bizarre was it that he gave us a false title. So, we first look up Zach Edwards. There was nothing.,” Marie said, adding: “And then he typed Alex Batty, and then we noticed all the articles with a photograph of him from 10 years in the past and for us it was the same particular person. We have to do one thing, because probably he’s in hazard.”

The director of the college alerted the police, who visited Ingrid and Fred’s house, posing as officers searching for a missing car and spoke to Alex. Reflecting on this encounter, Alex said: “I used to be doing some cleansing, I used to be sweeping up and these two policemen got here strolling down and my coronary heart’s pounding because of that and it all began dashing in my head, like no approach this is occurring.” Following a short exchange with Alex, the police departed. He explained: “I assumed they’d come to take me away and actually, I used to be nervous. I used to be relieved when they told me about a stolen car, but also, I used to be devastated. I might have said one thing there and then, but I did not because defending my mum and grandad, them not going to prison, was at the forefront of my thoughts.”

The Police Nationale, Perpignan, were approached regarding the statements made in the programme and did not respond to the BBC’s requests for a reply.

Casting his mind back to where things currently stand with his mother, Alex said: “My relationship with my mum is such a difficult factor. I’m irritated at what she did…. the experiences I missed out on, my lack of schooling but talking to all these people about my mum opened up my eyes to why she did what she did. This total journey has reconnected me to my mum and grandad and made me need to construct that bridge again.

“Hopefully one day I’ll be able to get to the point where I can go and see them and have an enjoyable time rather than have my mum push things down my throat like she used to do.”

Greater Manchester Police launched a felony investigation into alleged little one abduction following Alex’s return to the UK but dropped this in 2025 saying that the household didn’t help it and that there was “no realistic chance of prosecution”. Alex’s mom Melanie Batty was given the chance to reply to the allegations featured in the programme but selected not to, while his grandfather David Batty was also approached for remark but failed to reply.

Since his return home in 2023, Alex has efficiently obtained his Maths and English GCSEs and is at the moment looking for employment. In January 2026, Alex welcomed a child woman into the world.

Kidnapped By My Mum is on BBC Three at 9pm and BBC One at 10.40pm on Wednesday, May 13. It will also be accessible to stream on BBC iPlayer