Police end criminal probe into teen’s disappearance

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Police end criminal probe into teen’s disappearance

Ewan Gawne

BBC News, Manchester

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GMP

Alex Batty vanished in 2017 after being taken on holiday by family

Police have called off a criminal investigation into the disappearance of British teenager Alex Batty, who returned to the *** in 2024 after going missing for six years.

The boy from Oldham vanished in 2017 aged 11 after going on holiday with his mother and grandfather, before he was found in France in 2023.

A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said a probe into child abduction had been dropped as his family did not support it and there was “no realistic chance of prosecution”.

Det Supt Matt Walker said: “The right thing to do is bring closure to this chapter of Alex and his family’s lives, particularly as this is the outcome they wished for.”

Alex was discovered in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western France close to the city of Toulouse on 13 December 2023, after he was last seen in the port of Malaga six years earlier.

The teenager said he, his mother and grandfather, Melanie and David Batty, who were not his legal guardians, had lived a “nomadic lifestyle”, after staying in communes and caravans in the area.

Alex returned to live with his grandmother in Oldham shortly after he was discovered.

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Alex went on holiday with his family in September 2017 and was last seen a month later

‘Safe and reintegrated’

But the probe has now been dropped by police, who found after consulting with lawyers at the Crown Prosecution Service and National Crime Agency that there was no realistic chance of prosecution.

Det Supt Walker said the force felt it important to “properly and thoroughly” investigate the disappearance and had “explored all possible lines of enquiry”.

He said Alex’s safety had been “at the forefront” of the investigation.

“Alex is now an adult, safe, and reintegrated with life back in Greater Manchester surrounded by those who love him, which ultimately is the priority.”

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