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The fugitive grandfather of abducted British teenager Alex Batty did not die six months ago, but was seen alive and less than ten days ago, neighbours of the isolated farmhouse where he was living have revealed.
French authorities looking into the discovery of the British youngster in the south of France told a press conference yesterday that David Batty had died six months ago and that his grandson Alex had attended a spiritual memorial ceremony to honour him.
But now it has emerged that David Batty, who was known as Peter, was seen mowing the lawn of the Gite de la Bastide in the hamlet La Bastide, about an hour’s drive south of Carcassonne.
A neighbour, who gave his name only as Sebastian, said: ‘Peter is not dead. I saw him a week ago, maybe ten days. He was mowing the grass in front of the Gite.
‘I know this because my mum’s dog loves him. She is a white border collie and he throws a stick for her.’
![Alex Batty pictured with his mother Melanie and grandfather David in a newly-released image](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79031913-12871807-Alex_Batty_pictured_with_his_mother_Melanie_and_grandfather_Davi-a-10_1702749152548.jpg)
Alex Batty pictured with his mother Melanie and grandfather David in a newly-released image
![Gite de la Bastide, remote part of the Pyrenees where teenager Alex Batty was living with his Grandfather David Batty](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79021625-12871807-Gite_de_la_Bastide_remote_part_of_the_Pyrenees_where_teenager_Al-a-12_1702749193292.jpg)
Gite de la Bastide, remote part of the Pyrenees where teenager Alex Batty was living with his Grandfather David Batty
![Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie, then 37, and grandfather David, then 58, in 2017. He has now been found six years later](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/78962001-12871807-Alex_Batty_from_Oldham_Lancashire_was_just_11_when_he_did_not_re-a-15_1702749268072.jpg)
Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie, then 37, and grandfather David, then 58, in 2017. He has now been found six years later
![The farm in La Bastide. Far from the high-tech city lifestyles of Paris and Toulouse, the remote valleys of the Pyrenees are dotted with 'alternative' communities](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79018915-12871807-The_farm_in_La_Bastide_Far_from_the_high_tech_city_lifestyles_of-a-16_1702749394166.jpg)
The farm in La Bastide. Far from the high-tech city lifestyles of Paris and Toulouse, the remote valleys of the Pyrenees are dotted with ‘alternative’ communities
Sebastian, a blacksmith, told how David / Peter arrived in the tiny hamlet that is surrounded by high mountain peaks, two years ago, after he was taken on at the Gite as a handyman.
He told how his grandson Alex, who was known as Zak, lived at the Gite with him part of the time and spent the rest of the time with his mother somewhere in the neighbouring department of Ariege.
Sebastian explained: ‘Peter was a nice person. He was very shy. He would speak with me. I tried to speak to him in English but he was evasive.
‘The owner of the gite, Fred, would host drinks in the garden in the summer.
‘But Peter would never join us. Fred said that he had been an alcoholic.
‘Peter had told him that he had wanted to go back into nature to heal himself. And he did not want to be around alcohol. That was why he would not join us.
‘Peter would go off for a couple of weeks at a time. He would borrow the owner Fred’s blue Saab.
‘He has been here for two years. Peter had a cat. A fat tabby cat. Now she is crying all the time.’
He added: ‘This hamlet is not a cult. Peter was simply working at the gite as a handy man.
‘I asked Fred where the boy’s mother was. He said she was living in Ariege. I don’t where but in Ariege he told me.
‘The boy, Zak, would spend six months here and I suppose the rest of the time with her.
‘I don’t know why the boy told the police that his granddad had died six months ago. I think he was telling a story to the police to cover for his granddad.
![Alex's grandmother Susan Caruana said: 'I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found' (file image)](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/78960965-12871807-Alex_s_grandmother_Susan_Caruana_said_I_cannot_begin_to_express_-a-20_1702749414169.jpg)
Alex’s grandmother Susan Caruana said: ‘I cannot begin to express my relief and happiness that Alex has been found’ (file image)
![Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie (pictured), then 37, and grandfather David, then 58, in 2017](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/78960767-12871807-Alex_Batty_from_Oldham_Lancashire_was_just_11_when_he_did_not_re-a-17_1702749403818.jpg)
![Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie, then 37, and grandfather David (pictured), then 58, in 2017](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/78960769-12871807-Alex_Batty_from_Oldham_Lancashire_was_just_11_when_he_did_not_re-a-18_1702749403837.jpg)
Alex Batty, from Oldham, Lancashire, was just 11 when he did not return from a holiday to Spain with his mother Melanie (left), then 37, and grandfather David (right), then 58, in 2017
![Surrounded by high peaks, thick forests and fast-flowing rivers, the tiny hamlet of La Bastide ¿ population 15 ¿ proved the ideal hiding place for the Britons](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79018911-12871807-Surrounded_by_high_peaks_thick_forests_and_fast_flowing_rivers_t-a-21_1702749435394.jpg)
Surrounded by high peaks, thick forests and fast-flowing rivers, the tiny hamlet of La Bastide ¿ population 15 ¿ proved the ideal hiding place for the Britons
‘I didn’t want to report the boy for not being at school. Even though he wasn’t in school he was learning from his granddad how to be a handy man.
‘He seemed happy and healthy. He was not being held against his will, he was not chained up, he could come and go as he pleased. They were not hiding.
‘But he was evasive. When he arrived back one day with a skate board I wanted to tell him he could use my skate ramp in my garden but I did not get the chance to talk to him about it. He ran inside.
‘The police have not been to the hamlet. We expect them after we saw that the boy was in the news.’
This comes after it was revealed Alex would flown back to the UK today to be reunited with his grandmother six years after going missing from a holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather.
![At a Press conference on Friday, Toulouse Assistant Public Prosecutor Antoine Leroy, who is leading the investigation in France, said Alex had told officers that after six years of travelling from Morocco to Spain and then on to France, it was his mother's announcement that she was planning to move them to Finland that had prompted him to go](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79021419-12871807-At_a_Press_conference_on_Friday_Toulouse_Assistant_Public_Prosec-a-19_1702749406110.jpg)
At a Press conference on Friday, Toulouse Assistant Public Prosecutor Antoine Leroy, who is leading the investigation in France, said Alex had told officers that after six years of travelling from Morocco to Spain and then on to France, it was his mother’s announcement that she was planning to move them to Finland that had prompted him to go
![](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/79011609-12871807-image-a-14_1702749215535.jpg)
Alex flew to Malaga in September 2017 before being taken to a ‘spiritual community’ in the foothills of the Pyrenees. Investigators believe Alex escaped the rural community in southern France and spent days trekking across the French Pyrenees before being picked up by a trucker who took him to a police station in Revel, near Toulouse
![Alex Batty (pictured left) - a British boy who said he was kidnapped and taken to a 'spiritual commune' by his mother Melanie (centre) and grandfather David (right) six years ago - was 'brainwashed' while living with them, his family in England have said](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2023/12/16/17/78994069-12871807-Alex_Batty_pictured_left_a_British_boy_who_said_he_was_kidnapped-a-22_1702749459830.jpg)
Alex Batty (pictured left) – a British boy who said he was kidnapped and taken to a ‘spiritual commune’ by his mother Melanie (centre) and grandfather David (right) six years ago – was ‘brainwashed’ while living with them, his family in England have said
The 17-year-old, who was found wandering in the French countryside by a medical student after being abducted to live an ‘alternative’ lifestyle with his mother aged just 11 in 2017, will be repatriated in the ‘late afternoon’.
The British teenager will take off for London from the southern French city of Toulouse, ‘accompanied by several British police officers’, Toulouse prosecutor magistrate Antoine Leroy said.
Alex is expected to travel from London to Manchester to reunite with his family in Oldham, after walking for four days and four nights through France before being picked up at the side of a road and taken to a local police station by a good samaritan.
His grandmother and legal guardian, Susan Caruana, said at the time of his disappearance that she believed her daughter and ex-husband, David, had taken him abroad after falling into a cult-like lifestyle.