‘Off-grid’ commune the place Alex Batty lived with mum’s ‘goddess-worshipping buddies’

A teenager who has been discovered six years after he initially went lacking was dwelling in an “off-the-grid” neighborhood.

Alex Batty was simply 11 when he vanished after a household journey to Marbella, Spain. He hadn’t been seen since October 2017 when he was discovered alive and nicely on Thursday (December 14), the Daily Star beforehand reported.

The boy, now 17, was picked up by a lorry driver after trekking for a number of days via the Pyrenees mountains in France. It is believed he made the epic journey to flee a “spiritual” commune the place he had been dwelling since his disappearance.

READ MORE: Alex Batty: Everything we find out about lacking Brit boy present in France after six years

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The distant society is positioned within the Pyrenean valleys and is “cut off and has no schools,” based on sources. A police supply instructed the BBC members of the cultish group travelled from place to put and lived in caravans or tents.

Some of Alex’s Facebook pals look like dwelling off-grid and may be seen working towards meditation and rituals. Posts on the social community by the teenager’s buddies see them seek advice from “Gaia,” the Greek earth goddess who they credit score with the creation of “sustainable and abundant communities.”

Alex reportedly did not make reference to the group’s practices in conversations with police however did describe “a life in community” together with his mom and grandfather, native information outlet La Depeche reported.

Simone Risch, president of Infos Sectes – a nonprofit organisation that researches “groups, their ideologies and their structures” and gives assist to these concerned – instructed The Sun: “The break with society, children out of school, social isolation and life in self-sufficiency are often the beginnings of a shift towards a sectarian movement.

“If the selection of an alternate and itinerant life-style doesn’t in itself represent a sectarian drift, we should nonetheless stay vigilant in regards to the evolution of those organisations.”

Alex, originally from Oldham, Manchester, is understood to be mostly cooperating with prosecutors investigating his case but hasn’t told them where he has been living for the last six years.

A French police spokesman mentioned: “We can confirm that the young man who has been found is Alex Batty. He is well and providing information.”

Meanwhile the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office mentioned in a press release: “We are supporting a British national in France and are in contact with local authorities.”

Alex was present in Revel, close to Toulouse in France’s southern Occitanie area after the lorry driver who picked him up turned involved for him and referred to as police. The youngster was together with his mom Melanie Batty and grandfather David Batty, then 37 and 58 respectively, when he vanished.

It is believed Alex’s mom resides within the commune he escaped from.

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