English child found six years after disappearance was in hotel without mother and under false name

Alex Batty, a young Englishman found in France six years after disappearing in Spain, was living in a guest house without his mother and under an assumed name, the owners of the premises said this Sunday in a statement quoted by the British press.

The child disappeared at the age of 11 while on holiday with his mother and grandfather in southern Spain. Since then, the family members have not been seen again.

On Wednesday, after a medical student found him in a mountainous area, the minor told authorities he had been in France for two years. Alex, now 17, was healthy and insisted he had not suffered any abuse.

This Sunday, Frédéric Amby and Ingrid Bove, owners of a guest house in Camps-sur-l’Agli, France, said they knew the young man as Zac and cared for him for various periods of time starting in late 2021. “The first time Zach/Alex came accompanied by his grandfather and mother. He stayed with us for several weeks, helping with the garden and kitchen, in exchange for housing and food,” they assured.

According to Frederick and Ingrid, Alex’s mother never stayed at the hotel because she was “looking for a home to live in,” according to a “collective lifestyle” that could not be achieved in this place. “We are not a spiritual community,” they emphasized.

The owners considered the young man “part of the family” and encouraged him to “learn French and study”, giving him “free access to the Internet and the ability to come and go as he pleases”.

“He left several times to join his mother in different places of residence (…) The last time we saw Zach/Alex was earlier this summer,” they detailed.

This Sunday, the minor returned to the United Kingdom and was reunited with his grandmother and legal guardian. British authorities want to question him to find out the whereabouts of his mother and grandfather.