A man who was allegedly abducted by his mother and taken to live abroad for six years has contacted her for the first time since returning to the UK. Alex Batty was 11 years old when he disappeared from Oldham in 2017 after his mother, Melanie Batty, who was not his legal guardian, took him on a pre-arranged trip to Spain with his grandfather, David Batty.
After six years of a lifestyle cut off from the outside world, often without basic amenities, he escaped in 2023 and was found near the French city of Toulouse after walking across the Pyrenees. Now 20, Alex has retraced the journey he took across Spain and France for a new BBC documentary titled Kidnapped By My Mum.
Seeking Understanding Through the Documentary
Alex said he hoped that taking part in the documentary would help him understand his mother and her motivations for her actions. He also spoke to some of the people he encountered in small towns and villages across Spain and France while evading authorities.
“My relationship with my mum is such a complicated thing,” Alex said. “I’m annoyed at what she did … the experiences I missed out on, my lack of education. But speaking to all these people about my mum opened up my eyes to why she did what she did.”
He added: “This entire trip has reconnected me to my mum and grandad, and made me want to build 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.”
Life on the Run
During their time staying on campsites in France in 2022, Alex said he would eat only one meal a day. “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,” he explained. “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 was living in a tent for a few months whilst my mum had this really nice warm campervan next to me.”
One campsite owner told the programme she called French social services about the family but was told they could not do anything because Alex was foreign and they did not have his true identity. Alex expressed frustration: “You think that would make them want to come more. I’m so mad, so mad, that no one did anything.”
Legal Outcome and New Beginnings
Last year, Greater Manchester Police said a criminal investigation into the alleged abduction had been discontinued because there was no realistic chance of a prosecution. According to the documentary, Alex passed his maths and English GCSEs since returning to the UK and became father to a baby girl in January.
Programme-makers said Mr. Batty’s mother was invited to respond to allegations but declined, while his grandfather was contacted but no response was received. The French social services bureau, France Enfance Protegee, told the BBC they could not comment on Alex’s specific case due to confidentiality.
Kidnapped By My Mum airs on BBC Three at 9pm and BBC One at 10.40pm on Wednesday. It will also be available to stream on BBC iPlayer.
