ALEX Batty has begged authorities not to jail his mum and granddad after the teenager was allegedly kidnapped during a holiday to Spain.
Alex, 17, who returned to the UK after six years missing in Europe with mum Melanie, 43, and grandad David, 64, said he did not want them to hand themselves in.
Louis WoodAlex Batty has been reunited with his gran Susan Caruana[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationAlex, 17, does not want to see his mum and granddad go to jail over their action[/caption]
PA:Press AssociationAlex’s mum Melanie Batty allegedly took her son to live an ‘alternative lifestyle’ abroad[/caption]
Alex told Good Morning Britain: “That’s why I didn’t come home sooner. All I worried about was them getting locked up.”
The teen is now back home with his gran Susan – who was his legal guardian at the time of his alleged kidnapping – after he walked out of a rented property in Villefort near Chalabre on December 11.
Susan said Melanie and David being sent to prison is the “last thing” she would want.
“I used to think about Alex every single day and that was painful. But now I won’t think that way anymore,” the 68-year-old said.
“I don’t want them to go to prison, that’s the last thing that I want.”
Since returning to the UK, Alex has been interviewed by detectives, who launched a child abduction probe.
Alex’s mum Melanie and his grandad David had rejected society to pursue a drifter lifestyle.
Alex initially told police he had spent four days walking through the mountains before he was picked up by a delivery driver at 3am on December 13 as he walked along a road near the village of Camon, south of Toulouse.
But he later admitted to The Sun that he had lied about his journey to try and protect his mum and grandad.
Speaking about the nomadic lifestyle favoured by his mum, Alex said: “We stayed in a lot of caravans and a lot of houses.
“Always up mountains hours away from any kind of village or anything like that. One day I just thought okay, I can’t take this anymore.
“I knew that everything was already kind of in place to leave where we were so that If I were to have left they would be gone by the time police arrived.
“I’ve had one friend in the last six years that’s been my age. Everyone else has been a lot older than me.
“So I’m very comfortable talking to adults but with children my age, it’s kind of hard.”
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