‘Abducted’ Alex Batty has video called grandmother since being found, police say

A missing British teenager who has been discovered in France has had a video call with his grandmother, police have said.

Alex Batty, who is now 17, went missing six years ago in 2017 after going on a family holiday to Spain.

On the early hours of Wednesday morning, he was spotted walking alone on an isolated country road in Toulouse by a student delivery driver. The teenager said he was “kidnapped” by his mother when he was 12-years-old.

In a press conference on Friday (15 December), Greater Manchester Police said Alex and his grandmother “briefly” spoke on the phone on Thursday evening, and while his grandmother is content that Alex has been correctly identified, they “have further checks to do when he returns to the UK”.