Boy, 11, who vanished for six years abroad explains why police didn't save him when called
Alex Batty has accused French police of failing to intervene after they were made aware of his identity and location.
When Alex was just 11 years old, he became the central figure in a missing person's case.
The youngster had travelled to Spain with his mother, who was not his legal guardian, and grandfather for a holiday. But when he failed to return home to his grandmother in Oldham, he was declared missing, assumed to have been abducted by his mother, Melanie, a believer in fringe conspiracy theories and alternative lifestyles.
Six years on from his initial disappearance and Alex was found wandering towards the city of Toulouse by a delivery driver, to whom he revealed his identity and situation.
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However, the driver wasn't the first person to come into contact with Alex, as he also had encounters with the French authorities in the months leading up to his reappearance.
Recounting the six years living with his mum and grandad in new BBC documentary Kidnapped by My Mum, Alex explained that he'd been visited by French police after attempting to enrol in school.
With the help of a local woman, whom he and his grandad were working for, Alex applied for a place at a local coding college. He initially gave them a false name, later revealing that he was the missing Alex Batty.
The college reported his case to the police after googling him, and officers were sent to visit Alex under a false pretence.
However they ultimately decided against intervening when it became apparent that Alex was healthy and safe from immediate danger.
This wasn't the only time in which authorities were tipped off about Alex's location, either.
While the family were living on a campsite in the south of France, the owner reached out to social services to raise concerns about Alex's living conditions – only to be told they couldn't intervene as Alex was a foreign national and they didn't have his true identity.
"You think that would make them want to come more," Alex said of the social services' decision.
"I’m so mad, so mad, that no one did anything."
Why were Alex Batty's mum and grandad never charged with abduction?
Elsewhere in the documentary, Alex revealed that Melanie would often explain to Alex that removing him from his grandma's care was classified as kidnapping in a legal sense, but added that it couldn't be kidnapping because she was his mum.
While UK police did open an investigation into an alleged child abduction after Alex vanished, his mum and grandad were never charged with a crime. The investigation into his alleged abduction was closed in January 2025, due to family opposition and a low chance of achieving prosecution.
Both French police and social services declined to comment when approached by the BBC.
Topics: TV, BBC, Documentaries, True Crime
Brenna Cooper