British teenager Alex Batty has disclosed that he lied about the details of his escape to protect his mother and grandfather from police scrutiny.
In an interview with The Sun, Alex revealed doubts about their nomadic lifestyle arose when he was around 14 or 15 years old. Aspirations of becoming a software engineer prompted him to abandon the nomadic lifestyle in the French Pyrenees, where he had been living. Alex clarified that his fabricated four-day journey was meant to mislead police and protect his family from potential arrest on suspicion of child abduction.
Now back in the care of his grandmother, Alex expressed happiness about his reunion with his UK family and outlined his ambitions to go to college, learn French, and study computer science.