Alex Batty, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, went missing in 2017 when he was 11 years old, according to reports. The case concerns allegations that his mother, Melanie, took him on a pre-arranged trip with his grandfather, David, to Spain. The reporting also states that Melanie was not Alex Batty’s legal guardian. After he vanished, Alex Batty is reported to have lived off-grid for about six years. The available accounts focus on claims that there were missed opportunities to locate him sooner, and they relate the chronology to the initial disappearance and the subsequent years in which he was not found. These reports describe the family circumstances around the trip and the uncertainty over legal authority at the time Alex Batty left with his mother. At present, the information provided across the cited sources centers on the disappearance in 2017, the circumstances of the Spain trip, and the length of time he was missing while living outside mainstream systems.