Alex Batty Contacts Mother Who Abducted Him as Child After BBC Documentary

Alex Batty, abducted as a child by his mother and taken abroad, has contacted her for the first time since returning to the UK in 2023.

The 20-year-old from Oldham went missing in 2017 at age 11. His grandmother declared him missing after his mother, Melanie, and grandfather, David, took him from a holiday in Spain and moved to France. Melanie was not his legal guardian and followed conspiracy theories. She told Alex to discard his passport. They lived partly off-grid, and he received no schooling.

In a new BBC Three documentary available on iPlayer, Alex retraced his isolated years. He once lived in a tent, ate one meal a day at times, and did manual labor for cash. He hoped the project would explain his mother's actions.

"My relationship with my mum, it's such a complicated thing," he told the BBC in his deepest interview since escaping her. "I'm annoyed at what she did... the experiences I missed out on and my lack of education."

Alex spoke with people they met in small Spanish and French towns. The talks opened his eyes but stirred mixed feelings. He learned more about Melanie yet feared it might paint her as a villain.

Now a father to a baby girl, Alex said the documentary prompted him to text his mother. The effort was tough. He challenged acquaintances from his missing years on why they ignored authorities. Some in France did alert officials, but no aid arrived.

Melanie embraced the sovereign citizen movement, which deems governments illegitimate. Followers claim exemption from unwanted laws, like mortgage payments. This cost their family home when Alex was eight. She sold everything to join sympathizers in Morocco.

They returned after six months short of funds. Alex then lived with grandmother Susan, his legal guardian despite Melanie's objections. Susan allowed a September 2017 trip to Marbella, but Alex never came back.

Susan called UK police, sparking a media hunt. Authorities could not locate Alex, Melanie, or David.

For the film, Alex visited Benifairó de les Valls, north of Valencia, where they hid two months. To evade detection amid news coverage, he wore hats and glasses, grew his hair, and stayed inside. He first found it exciting, like James Bond. But Melanie and David called it serious.

"What they used to say is that under the law it's classified as kidnapping but it isn't kidnapping because she's my mum," he said.

They shifted to Villalonga, south of Valencia, staying with Trixie. She gave shelter for chores.

Revisiting, Alex asked what his mother sought and why the extremes. Trixie said Melanie believed off-grid life beat school for a happier childhood.

"She wanted for you to see the world a better way than sitting at school," Trixie told him. "You were running wild, of course you were - 12, 13 years old. Climbing trees, walking dogs, swimming in the river - you had a real life."

On skipping authorities despite media reports, Trixie replied: "I honestly felt that it was none of my business. I never got the feeling you were here against your will."

Alex noted Trixie and his mother shared views. She saw him happy, healthy, and learning. "Most of them believed that life experience was better than school."

After two years, they got a Villalonga flat as Alex grew lonely. Near a cafe by school, he heard the bell and kids leaving. He broke down to Melanie, tired of it.

They headed to France seeking a steady community. Alex called the moves tiring and repetitive. He craved stability.

He worked from age 14 to support her, though she was able-bodied. "I was made to work at 14 and she was perfectly healthy to work. And she never did."

Her spiritual pursuits left him paying rent and buying food. "It's not normal is it? You know it messes with people's heads quite a bit."

At 15, in Belesta campsite in the Pyrenees, scarce jobs meant pasta meals alone. Tension over her beliefs led Melanie to bar him from her heated caravan. He tented six winter months in rain and cold.

The owner's young daughter saw his plight and called French social services. "I thought it was a bit of abuse. I thought she was really not a responsible mum," she told Alex. "I called social services except they told me that you were a foreigner and that I did not have your true identity, they couldn't do anything."

Alex fumed at the missed rescue, which could have returned him to school. French social services declined BBC comment on cases.

Another chance slipped when Alex, using his real name, applied to a French computer college. Police visited his job site pretending to seek a stolen car.

"I thought they'd come to take me away and honestly I was nervous but mostly I was relieved," he said. Learning otherwise crushed him. He stayed silent to shield his mother and grandfather from jail.

The BBC sought National Police comment without reply.

Six years in, fed up, Alex left a note and fled the Pyrenees commune at night. To obscure his start point and protect them, he hiked hills and woods days before hitchhiking. A driver took him to Toulouse police, then UK investigators probed abduction.

Alex passed English and maths GCSEs and builds life with his family.

The trip reconnected him to his mother and grandfather. He texted: "I know how much you care about me and how all you wanted to do was protect me. I love both of you."

He will read her reply when ready. "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."

The BBC contacted Melanie and David Batty without response to claims.