Man who was kidnapped as a child for six years contacts mum for first time since being found
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: BBC Three
A man who was abducted as a child by his own mother has opened up about what life now looks like in his most in-depth interview since fleeing her.
Alex Batty, who was abducted by his mother at 11 and taken from Spain to France, has contacted her for the first time since returning to the UK in 2023.
In a new BBC documentary, Kidnapped by My Mum, Alex retraces the six years he spent living off-grid with his mother Melanie and grandfather David after disappearing from a holiday in Marbella in 2017.
Alex, now 20 and living back in Oldham, said: "My relationship with my mum, it's such a complicated thing.
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"I'm annoyed at what she did... the experiences I missed out on and my lack of education."
His mother, heavily influenced by conspiracy theories and the 'sovereign citizen' movement, made him throw away his passport.
He did not attend school and spent years moving between isolated communities in Spain and France.
At first, Alex said life on the run felt 'really cool' and 'like James Bond' but admitted that, after some time, it became 'tiring' and 'repetitive'.
He described periods of poverty, manual labour from the age of 14, and months sleeping in a tent during winter while his mother stayed in a heated campervan.
"It was winter time - raining, it was wet, it was cold all the time," Alex recalled.
The documentary also reveals several missed chances to rescue him.
One woman contacted French social services after seeing the conditions he was living in, telling Alex on the doc: "I thought it was a bit of abuse.
"I thought she was really not a responsible mum. I called social services except they told me that you were a foreigner and that I did not have your true identity, they couldn't do anything."
Alex said learning this left him 'so mad that no one did anything'.
French social services told the BBC that they were unable to comment on individual cases.
After six years away, he fled a commune in the French Pyrenees, hitchhiked to Toulouse and was returned to the UK.
Despite a police investigation, he refused to reveal his mother’s location or support charges against her and the case was eventually closed in January 2025.
Alex has since passed his English and Maths GCSEs and recently became a father.
Making the documentary led him to reconnect with his mother and grandfather.
In a text message, he wrote: "I know how much you care about me and how all you wanted to do was protect me. I love both of you."
Alex added that he would take his time to contact her again, once he felt ready to read her reply.
He said he hopes one day they can rebuild their relationship 'rather than have my mum push things down my throat like she used to do'.
Kidnapped by My Mum is currently available to stream on BBC iPlayer.