Alex Batty drew international attention in 2017 when he vanished during a short family trip with his mother and grandfather, neither of whom had legal custody. Authorities launched a global missing person investigation. For the next six years, the group adopted an off-grid existence, shunning bank accounts, passports, and other traceable elements. In 2023, the Oldham teenager escaped by hiking dark roads in the French Pyrenees and hailing a driver, stating, “I’ve been kidnapped.”
Now 20, Batty discloses his full experience in the BBC documentary Kidnapped By My Mum. He returns to key locations, uncovering the methods used to hide him and the ideology that kept him isolated. The film highlights how easily a child can disappear undetected.
The 2017 Abduction
Batty had lived with his grandmother Susan Caruna for two years before the trip. Caruna recalls: “Alex had been living with me two years. Melanie came here and asked if they could go on holiday. Alex was jumping up and down ‘please grandma, please grandma, please let me go’ and I ended up saying yeah.”
She reflects: “Do you know, it’s funny, it was like they put a spell on me. It was like they made me say ‘yes you can go’. I can’t explain why I said yes.”
Instead of returning, Caruna received a video from Batty’s mother. In it, Alex read a scripted message: “It upsets me to tell you the truth because I don’t like hurting your feelings. I want to live with my mummy and grandad. It is one million times better. Stealing me from your daughter is soulless, it is not nice. If you are not selfish and want the best for me then please do not get anybody to look for us. Look into your heart and think what I want. Again, think what I want, not you want. Goodbye.” All communication stopped after that.
Life at French Campsites
In 2022, nearly five years into his disappearance, Batty spent almost a year at campsites in France with his mother and grandfather. He describes the austerity: “We were always trying to be tight with money. I used to eat one meal a day. Just pasta and sauce on its own for lord knows how long. That’s just how I used to eat.”
Conflicts arose over beliefs: “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. So, 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. It was wintertime, raining, it was wet, it was cold all the time, and my mum was living in this campervan with heating, water and electric, and would rather me sleep outside in a tent.”
Near-Misses with Rescue
Campsite managers Angelique and Serena allowed the group to stay without proper ID. Angelique explains: “His mum said they had lost them. And there were complications. They had to hide because they were in danger. I have a heart, so I accepted.”
Batty asks if they knew his identity: “No, not at all, sorry. We would have called the police. Besides, I regret not doing it.”
Serena contacted social services after observing his tent life through winter: “She decided to make you sleep outside in winter. It was very cold, in a small tent… from September to March approximately. And then she left you like that to punish you. And so, then I thought it was a bit of abuse. I thought she was really not a responsible mum. And so, I called social services, except they told me that you were a foreigner and as I did not have your true identity, they couldn’t do anything.”
France Enfance Protégée cites confidentiality and declines to comment on the case.
Pursuit of Education
Later, Batty and his grandfather stayed at a B&B run by Ingrid and Fred, exchanging labor for lodging. Ingrid noticed his educational drive: He requested, “oh please can you buy me a notebook with lines or squares… yeah, I want a school notebook like you use at school. I want to study online. I want to try to catch up. I want to be able to go back to school.”
Ingrid arranged a visit to Ecole 42, a coding school in Perpignan. Staffer Marie recounts: Batty used the alias Zach Edwards but later gave his real name. A search revealed news articles and photos matching him. “As soon as they left, I told my colleague, how weird was it that he gave us a false name. So, we first look up Zach Edwards. There was nothing. And then he typed Alex Batty, and then we saw all the articles with a photo of him from 10 years ago and for us it was the same person. We have to do something, because potentially he is in danger.”
The school director notified police, who visited the B&B pretending to seek a stolen car. Batty recalls: “I was doing some cleaning, I was sweeping up and these two policemen came walking down and my heart’s pounding… I thought they’d come to take me away and honestly, I was nervous. I was relieved when they told me about a stolen car, but also, I was devastated. I could have said something there and then, but I didn’t because protecting my mum and grandad, them not going to prison, was at the forefront of my mind.”
Police Nationale in Perpignan did not respond to inquiries.
Reflections and Life Now
Batty reflects on his mother: “My relationship with my mum is such a complicated thing. 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. 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.”
Greater Manchester Police opened a child abduction probe after his UK return but discontinued it in 2025, noting lack of family backing and slim prosecution prospects. Melanie Batty and David Batty did not address the claims.
Back home since 2023, Batty earned GCSEs in Maths and English, pursues jobs, and welcomed a daughter in January 2026.
Kidnapped By My Mum airs on BBC Three at 9 p.m. and BBC One at 10:40 p.m. on Wednesday, May 13, and streams on BBC iPlayer.
