Alex Batty contacts mother after 2023 return — Kidnapped Alex Batty

Kidnapped Alex Batty has contacted his mother for the first time since returning to the UK in 2023, a new step in a family case that began when he was taken abroad as a child. The 20-year-old said the documentary that traced his years away pushed him to reach out after he had spent part of his childhood off-grid, out of school and, at one point, living in a tent.

Melanie Batty and France

Alex was declared missing in 2017 when he was 11 after his mother, Melanie, and his grandfather David took him on holiday to Spain and did not return. His grandmother, Susan, contacted the police in the UK and a widespread media appeal followed, while the family later hid for two months in Benifairó de les Valls, north of Valencia, where Alex said he wore hats and glasses, grew his hair and stayed indoors most of the time to avoid being found.

Melanie, who was not his legal guardian, had become heavily influenced by conspiracy theories and told Alex to throw away his passport. The family had earlier lived part of the time off-grid after the home was repossessed when Alex was eight, and Alex later said he sometimes ate just one meal a day and did manual labour for money.

documentary return

For the Three documentary, Alex retraced the places where he had lived while missing, speaking to people he met in small towns and villages across Spain and France. He said those conversations “opened up my eyes”, and added, “My relationship with my mum, it's such a complicated thing” and “I'm annoyed at what she did... the experiences I missed out on and my lack of education.”

He also said he hoped the film would help him understand more about Melanie and why she did what she did. The documentary took him back to Benifairó de les Valls, where he said he confronted people he met while missing about why they did not contact services to help him; he learned that some people did alert authorities in France, but said help never came.

Alex Batty family case

Alex has recently started a family of his own after becoming a father to a baby girl, giving the contact with Melanie a sharper edge than when he returned to the UK in 2023. The case now turns on what happens inside that relationship, after years in which the facts of his disappearance, the route through Spain and France, and the conditions he described only emerged piece by piece.