Teenage boy found six years after going missing breaks silence

Alex Batty, who went missing in 2017, claims to have lied about his escape to protect his mother and grandfather after he left in the dead of night to lead a normal life after six years of wandering across Europe.

Speaking to The Sun, the 17-year-old said he had had enough of the "hippy pain in the a** lifestyle" he led with his mother and left her a note telling her he had decided to go back to England, adding that he still loved her and hoped she would not be angry.

In 2017, Batty went missing after visiting Spain for a vacation with his mother and grandfather, neither of whom had parental guardianship for him.

Last week, at 3am, he was found by a driver who saw him strolling through the rain close to Toulouse, France.

After he was picked up by police, he told them that he had been hiking through the mountains for four days. However, he claims that the journey was rather shorter and he had lied to the authorities to keep his mother and grandfather from being taken into custody.

He told The Sun his mother "is very set in her views".

According to GB News, Batty described his mother as "very anti-government" and "anti-vax" who was concerned he would be placed into the care system if he went home and repeatedly warned him not to become a "slave to the system".

Batty added: "She’s a great person and I love her but she’s just not a great mum."

He told The Sun: "I realised it wasn't a great way to live for my future. The cloud had lifted because I started weighing everything up again — the pros and cons of England.

"I wouldn't know what was going to happen in my future if I were to stay with my mum, but from the past few years, I could get a picture of what life would have been like. Moving around. No friends, no social life. Working, working, work and not studying."

Speaking about the moment he was picked up by the driver, he said: "I slept outside on the ground. It was freezing. If I needed the toilet I used leaves and grass.

"My plan was to get to Toulouse and get as far away as possible. But I was so knackered when the delivery driver picked me up I just blurted out a story. I wasn't even hitchhiking when he picked me up. I was walking across a little bridge.

"He said he stopped because he saw I had a skateboard. It was pouring with rain and pitch black as it was 3am."

Batty's mother, who used the name Rose, is understood to be planning to travel to Finland, GB News reported.