Alex Batty, the teenager who went missing for six years, has said he returned home to the UK after one final argument with his mother, as he spoke about his experience for the first time.

In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Alex, 17, said he had finally had enough of the hippy lifestyle with his mother Melanie, 43, and grandfather David, 64.

He told the newspaper: “She’s a great person and I love her but she’s just not a great mum.”

He disclosed that he wrote her a note, in which he told her he loved her and hoped she would not be angry - but that he had taken the decision to go back to England.

Alex had been missing since 2017, disappearing after going on holiday with his mother and grandfather in Spain. His mother did not have parental guardianship of her son.

Alex was found last Wednesday morning by a motorist who spotted him walking through rain near Toulouse in France. He had been walking for 22 miles over two days and was carrying a skateboard when he was found at 3am. He used the driver’s mobile phone to text his grandmother Susan Caruana, who is his legal guardian, to ask her: “Please pick me up.”

They were reunited at her home in Oldham at the weekend.

Alex told the Sun that a trivial argument with his mother had proved the final straw. He grabbed a backpack, stuffed it with his clothes and left their home in the French Pyrenees in which they had been living for a little over 24 hours.

He had concluded he no longer wished to continue their peripatetic lifestyle and preferred to embark on a university degree.

He told The Sun: “We had a stupid argument about nothing. My mum can argue about anything so it doesn’t take much. She is very set in her views.”

In the note he left her, he told his mother: “Hey, Mom. I want you to know I love you very much. I’m very thankful for the life that you provided for me over the past few years.”

During his time wandering across Europe, he had not been to school but taught himself maths and computing.

Aged 14, he first started thinking about returning to the UK. He raised the idea with his mother when he turned 16 but she tried to stop him, the newspaper reported. During his teenage years he worked as a handyman alongside his grandfather, earning money to pay for meals and accommodation. He told The Sun he wanted a “future”.

He described his mother as “very anti-government” and “anti-vax” who was concerned he would be placed into the care system if he went home. She repeatedly warned Alex not to become a “slave to the system”, the newspaper reported.

He said he was very close to his grandfather, who he referred to as “Grandad Batty”.

After making his escape last Monday December 11, he told police when picked up that he had been walking for four days through the mountains. In fact, the trek was shorter but he said he lied to police in an attempt to protect his mother and grandfather from being arrested by officers.

His mother - who used the name Rose - is understood to be planning to travel to Finland.