Missing Brit Alex Batty didn’t go to school and educated himself reading Harry Potter 20 times

Alex Batty, the British teenager who went missing for six years and only recently reappeared in France, said he read the Harry Potter books 'at least 20 times'.

The 17-year-old is back in the UK six years on from disappearing while on holiday in Spain with his mother Melanie, who was not his legal guardian, and grandfather David.

Concerns were raised when they did not return to England on their expected date of 8 October, 2017 and authorities thought Alex might have been abducted.

The teenager has returned to Oldham, where he is under the legal guardianship of his grandmother, Susan Caruana.

Alex told The Sun that he knew he needed to escape, saying he 'just thought I’m gonna leave because I can’t live with her'.

GMP

He walked away, planning to get to Toulouse and get as far away as possible, and prepared his route knowing there would be fresh water along the way.

Eventually spotted on the road at 3am by a delivery driver, he was lent a phone to call his grandma and afterwards the driver called the police.

Alex was reunited with his family and allowed to fly back to the UK without a passport.

Since then, he's explained that in the six years he was missing he didn't get the chance to go to school and there was only one other child his age around him.

Alex instead told The Sun that he honed his reading abilities with the Harry Potter books.

He said: "I had a Harry Potter box set. I’m obsessed with it and must have read each of the books at least 20 times.

Junko Kimura/Getty Images

“I carried it everywhere even though it was massive and took up so much space. They’re amazing books.

"My main pastime was reading because most of the places we were we couldn’t get wifi. I tried to get as many as I could but it was b****y difficult."

Instead of school, the teenager said he spent his time working 'five hours a day, five days a week' in exchange for food and a roof over his head.

As for the rest of his education, the teen tried to teach himself mathematics and computer science when he had the chance to.

Alex said he also passed the entrance exam to a computer coding school in Perpignan, but couldn't enrol there because he had no ID.

Now he's back in the UK, he wants to study computer science at university and is planning on getting the qualifications he needs.

Topics: UK News, World News, Harry Potter

Joe Harker

Joe graduated from the University of Salford with a degree in Journalism and worked for Reach before joining the LADbible Group. When not writing he enjoys the nerdier things in life like painting wargaming miniatures and chatting with other nerds on the internet. He's also spent a few years coaching fencing. Contact him via [email protected]

@MrJoeHarker