When French delivery driver Fabien Accidini spotted a tall blond teenager walking alone in heavy rain through the Pyrenees in December 2023, he initially drove past. Something made him turn back.
What followed was a three-hour conversation that would end one of the most unusual missing persons cases in recent British memory, and a four-word admission that confirmed everything.
Alex Batty had disappeared in 2017 at the age of 11, when a supposed week-long trip to Marbella with his mother Melanie and grandfather David never ended. Instead of returning home to his grandmother in Greater Manchester, he spent the next six years living in a spiritual commune, first in Spain and later in France, largely cut off from normal life and education.
By the time Fabien found him, Alex was 17 and had been walking for four days trying to escape. He was dressed in black jeans, a white sweater and carried a skateboard under his arm. He initially gave a false name, calling himself Zach, before gradually opening up over the course of the journey.
Fabien, speaking to French outlet La Dépêche, described how the conversation unfolded. They spoke in English after it became clear Alex's French was limited. Slowly, the teenager revealed his real identity and his story. Fabien used his phone to help Alex contact his grandmother, then alerted police out of concern for the boy's welfare.
Now 20, Alex has spoken publicly about his experience in a BBC documentary titled Kidnapped by My Mum, in which he reflected on what he missed out on, his complicated feelings toward his mother, and the decision he eventually made to contact her.
"I know how much you care about me and how all you wanted to do was protect me," he wrote to her. "I love both of you."
Greater Manchester Police investigated Melanie and David but closed the case in January 2025 without making any arrests, in part because Alex repeatedly told authorities he did not want them imprisoned.
The four words Alex said to Fabien after hours of conversation, the moment the full picture became clear: "My mother kidnapped me."
