Police have confirmed that Alex Batty’s mother and grandfather won’t face criminal charges after he disappeared on holiday in 2017.
The Oldham teenager was found in France in 2023, six years after he disappeared while on a family holiday in Malaga.
Greater Manchester Police said a child abduction probe had been dropped in light of his family not wanting to pursue it and after concluding that “there would be no realistic chance of criminal prosecution”.
The now-18-year-old was living with his grandmother Susan Caruana before his mother and grandfather took him away to Spain and defied a court order requiring them to return to the UK.
Ms Caruana launched a campaign to find her grandson following his disappearance but has now said she doesn’t want the relatives responsible to face criminal proceedings. The teen has been living with his grandmother since he reappeared.
After being found wandering around south-western France near the Pyrenees in December 2023, Alex said he had been living a “nomadic life” with his mother and grandfather in the intervening period, staying in communes and campsites around Europe and North Africa.
“Alex and his safety has been at the forefront of our minds and actions since he was found in Toulouse, France in 2023,” Detective Superintendent Matt Walker, who led the investigation, said.
“In our commitment to protecting children, we felt it was important that the circumstances of Alex’s disappearance be properly and thoroughly investigated,” he added. “I led a dedicated team to do exactly that when Alex was first found, and this has continued since.
“We have consulted with various partners, such as a complex case CPS lawyer and the National Crime Agency throughout, and concluded there would be no realistic chance of criminal prosecution.
“Given this, 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 is now an adult, safe, and reintegrated with life back in Greater Manchester, surrounded by those who love him, which ultimately is the priority,” DS Walker said.
The 18-year-old has expressed concern about his mother and granddad “getting locked up” in the past. He told ITV’s Good Morning Britain that such a prospect was “why [he] didn’t come home sooner” in an interview last year.
“I don’t want them to go to prison,” Ms Caruana also told the broadcaster last January.
“That’s the last thing I would want,” she added. “I used to think about Alex every single day and that was painful but now I won’t think that way any more.”
