Police drop investigation into case of missing Oldham boy who turned up in France
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Greater Manchester police close child abduction inquiry, saying it is what Alex Batty and his family want. Police have dropped an investigation into the disappearance of a boy from Oldham who turned up in France six years after going missing. Alex Batty was taken to Spain by his mother, Melanie, in 2017 and they did not return home in defiance of a court order that had granted custody to his grandmother.
In the aftermath of Alex’s disappearance, Susan Caruana, his grandmother, launched a campaign to find the then 11-year-old. In the intervening years, the international search died down and Alex eventually turned up safe and well in France in December 2023.
Greater Manchester police (GMP) have now closed a child abduction investigation launched a year ago citing “insufficient grounds to move forward with any criminal prosecution”. The force said Alex and his family did not support officers in their efforts to bring charges against his mother.
The then 17-year-old was discovered by the side of a road in western France in December 2023 having left the commune where he lived with his mother and grandfather in the Pyrenees and been picked up while hitchhiking, carrying only a skateboard and €100 in cash.
Alex told French police that he had walked for four days through the mountains after leaving because he wanted “a better life”, including doing exams and going to university. But he later said he had fled the commune after arguing with his “anti-government, anti-vax” mother and that he had told the story about walking for four days to make it harder for police to find her and his grandfather.
