Court decides former missing schoolboy Alex Batty will stay under special legal protection

Alex Batty returned to the UK after being missing for seven years Credit: Family photo

Alex Batty is fearful of the “glare of publicity” and will remain under special legal protection, a court has ruled.

The 17-year-old, who returned to the UK on Saturday 16 December, six years after disappearing on holiday in Spain with his mum and grandad, was represented by lawyers at a hearing at a Family Court hearing at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice on Thursday 21 December.

Alex, who was 11 when he went missing, had been reportedly living a' nomadic spiritual' lifestyle with his mum and grandad, until he approached a delivery driver while walking in southern France, and he went to local authorities.

A police investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance is ongoing.

Kirstin Beswick, the barrister representing Oldham Borough Council, asked for Alex to be made a ward of the court in the care of his grandmother, as he was before he disappeared in October 2017.

Wardship means High Court judges will remain his legal guardian to oversee his welfare, provided by his grandmother with the support of Oldham Borough Council, until he turns 18 in two months-time.

Alex Batty had been living in Oldham before the holiday Credit: Oldham Times/PA

Normally reports of family court hearings are subject to reporting restrictions but Deputy Judge of the High Court, Sarah Singleton KC, allowed reporting of the hearing.

Judge Singleton said: "It seems to me that it would makes something of a non-sense of the media’s attendance if the identity of the young person was not included with what could be reported, because, to use more casual speech, it’s out there already.

"Alex is, perhaps entirely understandably some-what fearful of the glare of publicity around his circumstances.

"There is, it seems to me, to be a legitimate public interest in reporting the outcome of a difficult set of circumstances of a young person.

"He is being supported by his maternal grandmother and Oldham Council to resume a normal life, here."

ACC Matt Boyle confirmed Alex was back in the UK on December 16 Credit: ITV Granada

Alex was found by chiropody student Fabien Accidini while walking alone near Toulouse in the early hours of Wednesday 13 December.

His grandmother Susan Caruana from Oldham, said before his return to the UK: "I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found safe and well.

“I spoke with him last night and it was so good to hear his voice and see his face again.

"The main thing is that he’s safe, after what would be an overwhelming experience for anyone, not least a child."

Reports from southern France suggest Alex had been living on-and-off in a remote mountain farmhouse since autumn 2021, where his grandfather had worked as a handyman in exchange for room and board.