Alex Batty is fearful of the “glare of publicity” and will remain under special legal protection, a court has ruled.
The 17-year-old, who returned to the UK on Saturday, six years after disappearing on holiday in Spain with his mother and grandfather, was represented by lawyers at a hearing at a Family Court hearing at Manchester Civil Courts of Justice on Thursday.
Alex, who was 11 when he went missing and is now 17, had been reportedly living an itinerant lifestyle until he approached a delivery driver while walking in southern France and he went to local authorities.
A police investigation into the circumstances of his disappearance is ongoing, the court heard.
Kirstin Beswick, barrister representing Oldham Borough Council, asked for Alex to be made a ward of the court in the care of his grandmother, as he was before he disappeared with his mother and grandfather in October 2017.
Wardship means High Court judges will remain his legal guardian to oversee his welfare, provided by his grandmother with the support of Oldham Borough Council, until he turns 18 in two months time.
Normally reports of family court hearings are subject to reporting restrictions but Deputy Judge of the High Court, Sarah Singleton KC, allowed reporting of today’s hearing.
Judge Singleton said: “It seems to me that it would make something of a nonsense of the media’s attendance if the identity of the young person was not included with what could be reported, because, to use more casual speech, it’s out there already.
“Alex is, perhaps entirely understandably somewhat fearful of the glare of publicity around his circumstances.
“There is, it seems to me, to be a legitimate public interest in reporting the outcome of a difficult set of circumstances of a young person.
“He is being supported by his maternal grandmother and Oldham Council to resume a normal life, here.”
