U.K. Teen Who Was Missing for 6 Years Longed for 'Normal' Life, Worked in Exchange for Food and Shelter - PEOPLE

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The British teenager who was found in France after disappearing six years ago reportedly spent some of his time at a vacation spot, where he ran errands and cleaned in exchange for free accommodation and food, the owners said. 

Alex Batty, a U.K. native who went missing in 2017 at the age of 11, was dropped off at police station in a French town on Wednesday, according to authorities.

Batty, who is now 17 years old, disappeared after going on vacation with his mother Melanie Batty and grandfather David Batty, who did not have legal custody of him, the Greater Manchester Police said in a statement.

After authorities discovered his identity last week, he was flown back to the UK, the Greater Manchester Police said on Saturday, the BBC reports. He will be returned to his maternal grandmother, who was given custody of him by the British government prior to his disappearance, France 24 reported.

Ingrid Beauve and Frédéric Hambye, who own the vacation spot Gîte de la Bastide in southern France, said in a press statement that Alex stayed at their location at different points in the last few years. 

The couple said they knew Batty as “Zach” and had limited communication with his mother, who they said never stayed at the location. 

They said Batty first arrived at their place in 2021 and “contributed to the maintenance of [the garden/kitchen] in exchange for accommodation and food.” 

“As time went on, we saw him as part of our family and we think he appreciated the stability and security we represent for him,” Beauve and Hambye said in the statement. 

Alex reportedly has a knack for computers and was interested to go back to school and “normal life,” the couple said, but not having an ID made it challenging for him to do so. The couple said they offered to assist him with obtaining paperwork.

The couple shared photos of him on bike rides and with computers. 

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Batty was found when walking alone at 3 a.m. in the rain in rural France on Wednesday morning when delivery driver Fabien Accidini spotted the boy, he told The Associated Press. 

Accidini, who CNN identified as a chiropractic student on a delivery run to a pharmacy, offered to give Batty a ride, given the rain and the remoteness of where he was walking, he previously told the BBC.

Once the teenager told him his real name, Accidini searched for him on the Internet and, upon realizing who he was, took him to the French military police, authorities said, according to the BBC. 

Manchester Police said over the weekend that they had not yet received a formal statement from Batty and are “yet to fully establish the circumstances surrounding his disappearance,” according to the BBC. 

It has not yet been decided if authorities will proceed with a criminal investigation in this case, the BBC reported.

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U.K. Teen Who Was Missing for 6 Years Longed for 'Normal' Life, Worked in Exchange for Food and Shelter - PEOPLE
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