Alex Batty’s mother is a “conspiracy theorist” who thought Covid-19 was “created by the state to control people”, a source who knows Melanie Batty has revealed.
This comes after Greater Manchester Police announced that Interpol have now joined the search to find the wanted mum.
Alex, 17, was found alive in France earlier this week, after he went missing for six years when he was 11 years old.
The British boy was on holiday with his mother, Melanie, and his grandfather David when he disappeared.
Alex Batty went missing at the age of 11GMPAlex, who is understood to have been living under a different name, was spotted wandering through the Pyrenees last week.
He was found in the town of Revel, east of Toulouse, early on Wednesday by a student who spotted him.
Alex, who was offered a lift and then told the student his story, reportedly claimed he had been kidnapped by his mother and lived in a luxury 10-person house.
His mother is now believed to be in Finland, after Alex said she went there to see the Northern Lights, an investigation source told the sun.
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Melanie is believed to currently be in Finland
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An expat who knows Melanie from a local market in the Pyrenees, told MailOnline: “Rose is a conspiracy theorist. She believes that Covid-19 was not real, that it was created by the state to control people.
“She really wanted to set up a spiritual community here in the south of France… a special group of like-minded people,” Susie Harrison said.
“I don’t know what she did for money, but I know she gave therapeutic massages,” she said.
“But she really wanted to set up a spiritual community here in the south of France.
Greater Manchester Police is yet to establish whether it will open a criminal investigation, however it is understood that they are working with Interpol, a European agency.
A Greater Manchester Police spokesperson said: “This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place."
Susie Harrison, who knows Melanie, described her as a 'conspiracy theorist'
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A French Gendarmerie spokesman added: “We can confirm that the young man who has been found is Alex Batty. He is well and providing information.”
Alex travelled abroad with his mother Melanie, then 38, and his grandfather David, then 59, on a pre-agreed trip six years ago.
Both adults were prohibited from being with the boy at the time due to domestic difficulties
However, the 17-year-old's mother does not have legal parental guardianship.
The trio flew to Malaga Airport for a week-long stay near Marbella but the family failed to return to England as expected in October 2017.
Alex’s legal guardian, his grandmother Susan Caruana, had not seen him since leaving the UK.
But Caruana revealed her daughter and her ex-husband previously lived on a commune in Morocco with Alex in 2014.
Speaking in 2017, Caruana said: “They didn't want [Alex] to go to school, they don't believe in mainstream school.”
The area in the foothills of the Pyrenees is well-known for attracting people seeking alternative lifestyles.