The British boy who was allegedly abducted by his mother and grandfather while on holiday in Spain broke his silence Thursday, revealing the heartbreaking note he left his family before he reappeared after six years.
Alex Batty, now 17, details the moment he decided to leave his family in their French home and how he has been fending for himself over the past few years.
“It was a normal day and I just decided ‘ok it’s time to go,'” Batty, sitting next to his grandmother in the UK, told the Sun.
Batty, who was 11 when she disappeared, said she had argued with her mother, Melanie, and ran away from their French Pyrenees accommodation they had moved into the day before in September 2017.
“We had a stupid argument about nothing,” Batty told the site. “My mom can argue about anything so it doesn’t take much time. He is very firm in his views.”
Batty said the fight was the last, because he was tired of the “sick in the ass” hippie lifestyle his mother forced on him.
Alex Batty was living with his mother Melanie and grandfather David in France in 2017 when he ran away aged 11. ITV
Batty then plans to run away, packing a small bag with the clothes he feels he needs while he keeps a low profile with his family, and writes a note to his mother on Dec. 11, 2017.
“Hey mom, I want you to know I love you so much,” read the note, obtained by the Sun. “I am so grateful for the life you have given me over the past few years.”
“Don’t worry about yourself, I’m sure you won’t be found. Don’t worry about me either, you know I can take care of myself. I love you so much, don’t be so angry with me. -Dear Alex.”
The trio were last seen together in Malaga Port on October 8 – but never returned to the UK, the BBC reported.
Batty writes a note to his mother before running away, telling her not to worry about him because he knows how to take care of himself. AP
Batty felt she had a rough relationship with her mother after she separated from her father when she was just 2 years old.
“He is a good person. But she is not a great mother. Plain and simple, to be honest,” Batty told the website. “She doesn’t do the motherly things you’re supposed to do.
“He is not very warm and open. He didn’t really listen to anyone. He has set his course. You can’t really change his beliefs or anything and it’s just a pain to deal with.”
Batty’s decision to leave was made after feeling her mother’s way of life would not allow her to have a good future, saying she had strong “anti-government, anti-vax” views and believed most people were “slaves”.
While he shares many doubts about his mother, Batty says he has nothing but love for his grandfather, David, 67, who fills the hole left by his father’s absence.
“I love my grandfather. I never knew my father so my grandfather and step grandfather raised me. Datuk Batty is a great man,” he told the outlet. “He’s more like your grandfather, teaching you a lesson and listening to me.”
While he’s on the run, the teenager fears his mother and grandfather could be in legal trouble, so he comes up with another plan to throw the police “off his scent.”
“I had lied to try to protect my mother and grandfather but I knew they would probably get caught anyway,” Batty said. “I pretend I’ve been on such a long journey for that reason.”
He lives under the name Zack Edwards and claims to be a “very competent hiker” knowing directions, while part of the plot is to say he got lost looking for the French commune of Quillan.
Batty was sending a Facebook message to his grandmother, Susan Caruana, when he was picked up by a truck driver in France earlier this month. CHRIS NEILL / MEGA
Batty was found by a delivery driver in the South of France walking across a bridge in the middle of the night, in heavy rain on Dec. 13.
The driver, Fabien Accidini, allowed Batty to use his Facebook account to send messages to his grandmother, Susan Caruana, who is his legal guardian.
Caruana later told the press that he believed Melanie and David took Batty because they had “different belief systems.”
He was placed in a foster home for two days before being taken to Toulouse, a city in the south of France, where he was met by his other grandfather before flying back to the UK, without a passport.
Although she says she loves her mother, Batty feels she is not doing her job raising her as the two have always had a rough relationship, especially since her parents split up when she was just two years old. Family Distribution
Now that Batty is back in the UK with her grandmother, she has plans for her new life saying she wants to go to college while continuing to study French.
“I want to do computer science or cyber security or blockchain development so I’ll be very busy learning and pursuing things.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
