Alex Batty, a 17-year-old Briton who was missing in Spain six years ago has been found in France.
Gatekeepers News reports that French Deputy Prosecutor on Friday, said Batty is to return home to England this weekend.
Batty, from the northern English city of Oldham, was picked up by a driver in a mountainous area of southern France.
Meanwhile, checks by French and British police confirmed his identity.
Nevertheless, Police suspect his mother, Melanie Batty, who did not have parental guardianship, and his grandfather David Batty of abducting the boy in 2017 when he was 11, under the pretence of going on holiday in Spain.
They went to live in alternative lifestyle communes in Spain and subsequently the French Pyrenees.
The Deputy public prosecutor for the Toulouse region, Antoine Leroy, said, “He will be handed back to his maternal grandmother tomorrow (Saturday) or after tomorrow (Sunday) at the latest.”
Batty would leave France via the southern city of Toulouse or southwestern city of Bordeaux, he said.
His grandmother, Susan Caruana was not able to travel and so the two would be reunited in the UK, he said, adding he was in touch with the British embassy.
His grandmother, who according to British media reports is his legal guardian, expressed “relief and happiness” over the boy’s discovery.
Caruana said in a statement released by Greater Manchester Police, “I spoke with him last night and it was so good to hear his voice and see his face again.
“I can’t wait to see him when we’re reunited.
“The main thing is that he’s safe, after what would be an overwhelming experience for anyone, not least a child.”
Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes of Greater Manchester Police earlier said, “Our priority is to get him back to the UK and getting back to his family in Oldham as soon as possible… I expect it to happen over the next few days.”
Leroy said the boy, his mother and grandfather had been in Spain and Morocco, before crossing over to France.
He explained Batty lived a “nomadic” life in a “spiritual “community”, never staying more than several months in the same place for six years.
The teenager told investigators he had not suffered any physical violence during the past six years, but said he had been “sexually abused when he was… five or six years old”.
The deputy prosecutor described Alex as “bright and very calm”.
Leroy said he decided to escape when his mother announced she was going to go to Finland, where she is “likely” to be now. His grandfather died six months ago.
He said the teenager walked for four nights in the direction of Toulouse before he was discovered at 3:00 am (02:00 GMT) on Wednesday by a young delivery man.
Toulouse public prosecutor Samuel Vuelta-Simon earlier told AFP that social services had taken care of the teenager.
The prosecutor added that there was no doubt over the boy’s identity.
Alex was last seen in Spain on October 8, 2017, the day he and his mother and grandfather were expected to return home from the family holiday.
