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<\/p>\nA Brit teen missing for six years had hiked through mountains for four days after escaping from a French commune.<\/p>\n
Alex Batty managed to ditch the compound his mother and grandfather are believed to have taken him to after a holiday in Marbella back in 2017. Six years later and the now 17-year-old was said to have hiked through the mountains in a quest to get a hold of a UK ID card.<\/p>\n
He was spotted by a delivery driver hiking through the Pyrenees, and it is now believed Alex trudged on in the hopes of moving to Canada to pursue a career working with computers.<\/p>\n
READ MORE: Alex Batty: Everything we know about missing Brit boy found in France after six years<\/b><\/p>\n
For the latest news and updates on missing persons cases across the globe, click here.<\/i> <\/b><\/p>\n
The 17-year-old has since been reunited with his grandmother and legal guardian Susan Caruana, who has said she is relieved to have her loved one back after so long.<\/p>\n
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It is said Alex had been living in a remote holiday cottage in La Bastide, a commune in France which the child was taken to by his mum Melanie, 43, and grandad David, 64, in 2021. <\/p>\n
Moving to the commune after what was supposed to be a week-long trip to Marbella on the Costa del Sol, Alex, who was known to commune residents as Zach, is now back in the UK.<\/p>\n
Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Hambye and Ingrid Beauve lived with Alex during his time at the commune, and said the youngster had told them of his intention to return to the UK, The Sun reported.<\/p>\n
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In a post to the Gite de La Bastide Facebook page, they alleged: "You may have met Zach and found that he was part of the family, that he had plans to study computer science and work in Canada. <\/p>\n
"He was eager to go to school and get back to a normal life and for that, he needed his ID, which he told us he no longer had.<\/p>\n
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"When we learned that he did not have an ID, we offered to drive him to the British Consulate. He told us that he would find a way to return to the UK on his own to get new papers and go back to school. To this end, he told us, he left on December 10 to join his mother."<\/p>\n
Alex has since been reunited with grandmother Susan, with a source saying: "All Susan has ever wanted was to see and hold Alex again. She last saw him as a boy so it was a bit of a shock to welcome him back as a strapping 17-year-old. But the minute she saw him she knew it was him and they held each other tightly and the tears flowed."<\/p>\n
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