The ramshackle French mountain farm the place Alex Batty was referred to as Zak.

Travelling by night time, and sleeping tough in gardens by day, Alex Batty spent 4 lengthy days trekking greater than 30 miles, throughout muddy, rain-lashed, mountainous terrain in his bid for freedom.

It’s the kind of stroll that may problem a seasoned traveller, with skilled tenting tools plus a wise cellphone and GPS to information their method.

To assume that this journey was undertaken by a naïve 17-year-old, with nothing however a rucksack, torch and his beloved skateboard for firm, beggars perception.

But that reveals how determined Alex was to get again to ‘regular’ life in Britain — removed from the nomadic, technology-eschewing group with whom he mentioned he’d been dwelling for the previous six years together with his mom and grandfather.

Alex, from Oldham, Greater Manchester, was simply 11 when he did not return from a vacation to Spain together with his mom Melanie, then 37, and grandfather David, then 58, in 2017. His grandmother and authorized guardian, Susan Caruana, mentioned on the time that she believed her daughter and ex-husband, David, had taken him overseas to reside an ‘various way of life’. Her suspicions have been right.

On Wednesday, Alex was picked up in a stroke of blind luck by a French pupil, out doing his part-time supply job within the early hours of the morning, within the small, largely abandoned rural cities within the foothills of the French Pyrenees.

Freezing chilly, soaked to the pores and skin — and with solely 100 euros in his pocket — Alex claimed that his final six years had been spent with a New Age group, drifting from place to put, nation to nation.

Never staying greater than a few weeks anyplace earlier than transferring on, the group had lived off the land and no matter cash they might scrape collectively doing varied odd jobs.

With his 18th birthday approaching in March — and with no {qualifications}, no plan, no everlasting deal with and no future — final week it appeared that Alex had determined he’d had sufficient.

At a Press convention yesterday, Toulouse Assistant Public Prosecutor Antoine Leroy, who’s main the investigation in France, mentioned Alex had advised officers that after six years of travelling from Morocco to Spain after which on to France, it was his mom’s announcement that she was planning to maneuver them to Finland that had prompted him to go.

‘When his mom indicated that she was going to go away with him to Finland, this younger man understood that this needed to cease,’ Leroy mentioned. ‘So then he determined to go away the place the place he was together with his mom and walked for 4 days and 4 nights.’

The French police additionally mentioned that Alex had advised them his grandfather David, who was 64, had died six months in the past and that {the teenager} took half in a ‘meditation’ ceremony on the time of his demise. Whether or not David Batty acquired a correct burial — or, certainly, whether or not he’s truly lifeless — stays unclear.

For there are myriad questions that prosecutors — and, after all, Alex’s household — will need solutions to within the tough days forward. One factor is obvious: Alex Batty has been dwelling a very secretive life over the previous few years.

For one other model of occasions has emerged of Alex’s life over the interval he was away.

Far from a life on the highway, it is claimed that the household have, in reality, been dwelling on an remoted, rural farm, excessive within the Pyrenees for the previous two years.

Surrounded by excessive peaks, thick forests and fast-flowing rivers, the tiny hamlet of La Bastide — inhabitants 15 — proved the perfect hiding place for the Britons.

Today, the mayor of this rural idyll, who is aware of {the teenager}, described him as a ‘glad and well mannered’ younger man, however added: ‘He’ll be glad to be again together with his grandmother.’

Mayor Rolande Alibert, 73, advised the Mail: ‘He is a stunning younger man, all the time well mannered and good. He did not converse French, neither of them did, however they all the time mentioned ‘Bonjour’. We knew the boy as Zak and his grandfather as Peter, and it was solely after I examine them within the newspaper that I realized the reality.’

She mentioned he’d final seen Alex carrying a suitcase, however he hadn’t disclosed the place he was going.

It’s claimed David Batty and Alex — his mom’s whereabouts stay unclear — arrived within the tiny hamlet, about an hour’s drive from the town of Carcassonne, some two years in the past.

They had been taken on at a neighborhood gite doing odd-jobs and taking care of visitors in return for his or her board and lodgings. Today, the proprietor of the gite, identified solely as Fred, declined to touch upon his former workers.

However, Veronique, a part-time waitress on the gite, advised the Mail: ‘Of course, I do know him, however to us he was not Alex he was Zak.

‘He lived at a gite on the opposite aspect of the mountain together with his grandfather, who mentioned his identify was Peter. Now I recognise him from the photographs on the information. They have been dwelling on the gite for about two years.

‘I acquired to know Zak — he may converse some French however not that a lot. I advised him he ought to study extra. That was a part of the explanation he left, I believe.

‘He was caught in the midst of nowhere. He didn’t have [identity] papers, so he couldn’t get on together with his life. He was a stunning younger man. We danced collectively on the summer season fetes.’

Far from the high-tech metropolis life of Paris and Toulouse, the distant valleys of the Pyrenees are dotted with ‘various’ communities. Craftsmen and natural farmers go away their high-mountain properties early on Saturday and Sunday mornings to promote their wares at artisan markets.

Dreadlocked hitch-hikers stand in pairs along with the few roads that traverse the mountains.

Abandoned camper vans and caravans will be seen in fields and in parking areas. Brightly painted indicators paved the way up filth roads to mountain retreats.

Alex hasn’t disclosed to French authorities whether or not he warned his mom that he was leaving.

They say he does not appear to totally comprehend the affect of his disappearance, or worldwide efforts to hint him.

He is at present being taken care of by French social providers whereas police have mentioned they’re working laborious to ‘convey him again to Britain as quickly as potential’. However, the repatriation is being held up by the necessity for a brand new passport, as a result of kids’s documentation is legitimate for under 5 years and so Alex’s may have expired.

Police sources mentioned {that a} passport software for {the teenager} is being ‘expedited’, however he isn’t anticipated to return to the UK earlier than subsequent weekend.

Greater Manchester Police have declined to state whether or not Melanie — or David — have been suspects within the investigation into Alex’s disappearance, though Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes advised reporters: ‘Obviously his mom is a part of that dialog and investigation.’

A newly resurfaced interview with grandmother Susan, achieved within the years after Alex vanished, through which she was determined to unfold phrase in regards to the boy’s disappearance, describes how Melanie and her father, David, had grow to be caught up in an alternate way of life. She revealed how Melanie had gone from being a regulation pupil to a ‘chaotic’ bohemian in a number of quick years. She described her daughter as a rebellious teenager who had ‘partied laborious’, leaving her dad and mom struggling to manage.

When she gave beginning to Alex in 2006 — the id of his father hasn’t been disclosed — Susan stepped in to assist, taking care of her grandson and lending her daughter cash. However, she says Melanie merely ‘blew the lot’.

It was round this time that David developed some unspecified well being points, for which he acquired remedy and ‘modified dramatically’, turning into deeply non secular and rejecting work — beliefs his daughter embraced absolutely.

Melanie started travelling overseas together with her younger son. ‘Melanie did not imagine in class or schooling. I used to be actually apprehensive about them,’ Susan added.

In 2014, Melanie took the then eight-year-old Alex to reside in a commune in Morocco, the place her father quickly joined them.

A panic-stricken Susan paid for Alex to fly residence, and he started dwelling together with his grandmother full-time.

‘I acquired Alex into a neighborhood faculty in Oldham and he was actually settled and glad. He was so happy to have a house,’ she mentioned.

Susan utilized to the courts for guardianship of Alex, which she was awarded in 2016, however Melanie refused to attend the court docket listening to or recognise its ruling.

In October 2017, Melanie requested if she may take Alex away on vacation to the Spanish resort of Marbella. Reluctantly, Susan agreed he may go.

‘During the vacation, Alex referred to as me, and mentioned he was on the seashore. But within the background, I heard his mum shout: ‘Switch the cellphone off. No extra contact!’ My coronary heart dropped. I used to be frantic.’

Melanie then despatched a video message, saying Alex wouldn’t be returning to the UK as a result of she wished him to observe her way of life.

And then the path went chilly . . . till Wednesday night time, when a big-hearted younger supply driver noticed the strapping younger teenager trudging by means of the rain and took pity on him.

Speaking to native information reporters of the second he had picked up {the teenager}, chiropractic pupil Fabien Accidini, mentioned: ‘He was strolling whereas the rain fell in heavy drops. The second time I handed him, I made a decision to supply to drop him off someplace. His angle gave me confidence. He ended up entering into my van.’

Fabien mentioned Alex had advised him that his mom was ‘a bit of loopy’, however insisted that she had by no means imprisoned him and he may ‘go away when he wished’.

‘He lived together with his mom in a non secular group, distant from regular life.

‘He had no animosity in the direction of her, however he actually wished to seek out his grandmother — he actually missed his grandmother,’ Fabien advised reporters.

‘When he defined his scenario to me, I gave him my cellphone as a result of he by no means had a way of communication.’

Alex despatched a message to his grandmother on Facebook, saying: ‘Hello grandma, it is me, Alex, I’m in France . . . I actually hope that you simply obtain this message, I like you. I need to come residence.’

Yesterday, Susan was nonetheless attempting to course of the information that her grandson had lastly been positioned.

In an announcement issued through the police final night time, Mrs Caruana mentioned: ‘I can’t start to precise my aid and happiness that Alex has been discovered.

‘I spoke with him [on Thursday night] and it was so good to listen to his voice and see his face once more. I am unable to wait to see him once we are reunited.

‘The important factor is that he is secure, after what can be an amazing expertise for anybody, not least a toddler.’

The remainder of the household was additionally adjusting to the information that Alex had been positioned ultimately.

His cousin, Stephen Devine, mentioned it could be ‘an enormous adjustment’ for him to be residence, whereas nice aunt Raisa Devine mentioned she was ‘very happy’ that he had turned up secure and effectively.

‘He was very settled together with his grandma and he or she was devastated when he disappeared,’ she mentioned.

Officers from Greater Manchester Police usually are not at present being despatched out to affix the hunt for his mom and grandfather, it’s understood, with detectives liaising with their French counterparts on the bottom.

Assistant Chief Constable Sykes mentioned of Alex’s wider household: ‘They are clearly massively relieved and a complete host of feelings are going by means of their minds in the intervening time as they arrive to phrases with this excellent news.’