FILE PHOTO: An undated still image shows Alex Batty, from Greater Manchester, Britain, who went missing in 2017, and has been found in France. Greater Manchester Police/Handout via REUTERS
LONDON (Reuters) -A teenager from Britain who was found in southern France after disappearing six years ago is expected to return to his family in northern England in the next few days, after he apparently fled a spiritualist mountain community.
Alex Batty disappeared at the age of 11 during a holiday with his mother and grandfather to Malaga, Spain, in 2017 and both are still wanted in connection with his disappearance.
Greater Manchester Police (GMP) told a press conference on Friday they were working with the French authorities to bring Batty back to Britain, and to his grandmother, who British media have reported was his legal guardian.
"He's getting well cared for by the French authorities at the moment ... Our priority is to get him back to the UK and get him back to his family in Oldham as soon as possible, that is expected to happen over the next few days," GMP Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes told a press conference.
A French newspaper reported a delivery driver spotted the teenager wandering along a highway in the region around the southern city of Toulouse, after having fled a spiritualist mountain community in the Pyrenees mountains.
Sykes said Batty had spoken to his grandmother via video call on Thursday evening.
"She has a whole host of emotions and feelings as you could imagine," Sykes said.
He added: "We still have some work to do in establishing the full circumstances surrounding his disappearance and where he has been in all those years." Sykes said.
"At the moment the priority is speaking to Alex ... but obviously his mother is part of that conversation and investigation."
(Reporting by Sarah Young, Writing by Kylie MacLellan; Editing by Kate Holton)
