Alex Batty makes first statement as he returns home to family after six years

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    Alex Batty, the teen who had been missing for six years, has broken his silence and said “I’m glad to be home for Christmas”.

    The British lad was found in France six years after he vanished. The now-17-year-old arrived back in Oldham, Greater Manchester, on Saturday evening after a whirlwind few days in which he was picked up by a French driver on a rural road in southern France.

    And after returningto her home from a shopping trip with a relative today, he told reporters: “I’m glad to be home for Christmas” before going back inside.

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    Alex will now spend Christmas with his legal guardian, grandmother Susan Caruana, the Mirror reported. Alex was reported missing in 2017 aged 11 when he went on a pre-planned holiday to Marbella, Spain, with mum Melanie Batty and grandfather, David Batty.

    French prosecutors said in a news conference on Friday that he was then taken to live in a "spiritual community", living in Morocco and later the Pyrenees.

    The teenager was discovered on Wednesday on a rural road near Quillan, France, where he was picked up by part-time delivery driver Fabien Accidini.

    Student Mr Accidini was delivering medicines to a pharmacy at the time and offered Alex a lift, before discovering his real identity.

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    Ms Caruana, 68, told the Mirror it was "unbelievable" to see and hear Alex during a video call on Thursday night.

    This was the first direct interaction she'd had with her grandson in more than six years.

    She said: "It was absolutely like a dream when I heard his voice. It was unbelievable."

    He was whisked away by his mother, Melanie Batty, who did not have parental guardianship, and his grandfather David Batty.

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