The prosecutor’s office in Toulouse is holding a press conference now.

We will bring you the key lines right here, so stick with us.

Oliver Slow
Live reporter

British teen Alex Batty is due back in the UK in the next few days, after he was found in France having been missing for six years, police say.

Chris Sykes, assistance chief constable of Greater Manchester Police, said the force was "relieved and overjoyed" to receive the news that Alex is safe and well.

"This is a huge moment for Alex, for his family and for the community in Oldham," he said in a press conference.

Read more here.

Thomas Mackintosh
Live reporter

Our coverage will now resume as we are expecting to hear from French prosecutors in Toulouse after 17-year-old Alex Batty was found there earlier this week.

We heard from Greater Manchester Police this morning who said Alex is being well looked after in France.

Stay with us as we bring you the latest on this story.

Alex Therrien
Live reporter

We're now pausing our live coverage of the story. Thanks for joining us. We'll be back later if there are significant developments.

The page was written by Thomas Mackintosh, George Wright and Ali Abbas Ahmadi. It was edited by me.

You can read more about today's developments here. And here is the story of how Alex was found wandering in the foothills of the Pyrenees, in south-western France, by a delivery driver.

Image source, FRANCE TÉLÉVISIONS

A student working as a delivery driver in the foothills of the Pyrenees in south-western France has told of the hours he spent with Alex Batty after spotting him walking on the side of an unlit, mountain road.

Fabien Accidini drove back, stopped and offered the teenager a lift. The boy climbed in. To start with he called himself Zach and came across as quite shy.

"We tried to speak in French but I noticed his French wasn't great and I decided to speak to him in English," he told La Dépêche du Midi.

"We talked for more than three hours. He very quickly revealed his true identity, Alex Batty, then told me his story. He described how his mother had kidnapped him when he was 12."

The delivery driver told French TV that Alex Batty did not really know where he had been living, only that it was somewhere in the mountains between the two regions of Ariège and Aude along the south-west border with Spain.

Accidini searched for his name on the internet and realised who he was.

Read in full here.

Earlier, Greater Manchester Police confirmed that Alex Batty remains in Toulouse, France, where he was found on Wednesday, and that officers are working with French authorities to bring him back to the UK.

Now the public prosecutor for the Toulouse region has given an update, saying they are waiting for Alex's grandmother, who is the 17-year-old's legal guardian, to come and collect him.

Samuel Vuelta-Simon told the AFP news agency: "We are waiting to set up repatriation with the British.

"He is in a safe place. Social services have taken care of him," he added.

However, the BBC understands that Alex's grandmother, Susan Caruana, is too frail to travel to Toulouse.

Earlier, Greater Manchester Police said they hoped Alex could return to the UK in the next few days.

Earlier, Greater Manchester Police's Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes delivered an update after British teenager Alex Batty was found this week in France - six years after he went missing in Spain.

You can watch his statement above.

Chris Bockman
Reporting from Toulouse

The state prosecutor’s office in Toulouse, where Alex Batty was found, just called me saying they will be giving an update later today.

They told me last night that this case has now been passed to the British authorities.

The prosecutor told me yesterday that they do not know the whereabouts of Alex's mother and grandfather, with whom Alex disappeared in 2017.

We do not yet know when the state prosecutor’s office in Toulouse will give its update today.

Image source, GMP

As we've been reporting, Alex Batty vanished in September 2017 after going on holiday to Marbella, Spain, with his mother and grandfather.

Melanie and David Batty did not have legal guardianship of Alex and they remain wanted over his disappearance.

In 2018, Alex's legal guardian Susan Caruana, his grandmother, said she believed a disagreement about how the teenager should be cared for was at the root of his disappearance. Caruana has appealed for his return since his disappearance.

It is understood that Alex had been living in the remote Pyrenean valleys, travelling about from place to place in a kind of itinerant commune.

Alex, from Oldham in Greater Manchester, won't say where his mother is or exactly where he had been living in the Pyrenees, the prosecutor's office told the BBC.

Greater Manchester Police gave no comment on the whereabouts of Alex's mother and grandfather in a news conference this morning.

It was a short statement from Greater Manchester Police, followed by a few questions and answers. Here's a recap of what we heard:

• Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes said Alex Batty's family were "massive relieved" he had been found, describing it as a "huge moment" for Oldham, where he comes from
• He confirmed the 17-year-old remains in Toulose, France, where he was found on Wednesday, and that he was being "well looked after" by French authorities
• Sykes said Alex had a video call with his grandmother Susan Caruana last night
• While she is "content" Alex is the person she spoke to, Sykes said officers still have further checks to do when he returns to the UK
• Speaking about Alex's return, Sykes said Greater Manchester Police were working with French authorities to bring the teenager back and that they expected him to return "over the next couple of days"
• He would not give details on Alex's whereabouts over the last six years following reports the teenager has been living in the Pyreneean valleys
• Sykes gave no comment on the whereabouts of Alex's mother and grandfather, whom he went on holiday to Spain with in 2017 when he disappeared

That's it from the police's brief update to journalists.

Much of what officers told us was already known, but stay with us as we go over what we learned.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes says Alex's family in Oldham are "massively relieved" that he's been found, adding that a "whole host of emotions are going through their mind at the moment as they come to terms with this good news”.

Answering another question, he says he cannot provide detail on where Alex Batty has been living.

He says Alex is being "well looked after" by French authorities in Toulouse.

The real concern, he says, is how Alex is brought back to the UK and looked after when he returns to Oldham.

Sykes tells reporters Alex's family are going through a "whole host of emotions".

Next we have some questions from journalists in the room - the first being the BBC's Rowan Bridge who asks if there is timeline on Alex's return to the UK.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes says Greater Manchester Police are "working hard" with French authorities to bring him back "as soon as possible".

The top priority is to get him back to the UK, he says, adding that he expects Alex to be back in Oldham "over the next few days".

Sykes says Alex had a video call with his grandmother last night.

He says that while she's "content" the person she spoke to is Alex, officers have "further checks to do" when he returns home.

"Alex and his family remain our focus."

The officer adds that some work still needs to be done to establish the circumstances surrounding where Alex has been.

Assistant Chief Constable Chris Sykes says: "We are relieved and overjoyed to receive the news from French authorities Alex Batty has been found safe and well."

He adds this is a "huge moment" for Alex, his community in Oldham and his family.

Greater Manchester Police are now giving an update. Stay with us for the latest updates.

Image source, GMP

The French prosecutor's office in Toulouse has officially handed the case over to police in the UK and it is no longer under French jurisdiction, the BBC understands.

Officials in the UK were contacted via the UK embassy in Paris and officers from Greater Manchester Police confirmed the force was in touch with French authorities to put "safeguarding measures in place".

"This is a complex and long-running investigation, and we need to make further enquiries as well as putting appropriate safeguarding measures in place," a spokesperson for the force said.

In a statement, the Foreign Office said: "We are supporting a British national in France and are in contact with local authorities."

A police source told the BBC Alex was spotted by a concerned motorist in the Pyrenees foothills on Wednesday morning.

"He explained that he had been walking for four days, that he set off from a place in the mountains, though he didn't say where," delivery driver Fabien Accidini said.

"I typed his name into the internet and saw that he was being looked for," he added.

Accidini told local media the teenager's plan had been to find a big city with an embassy to ask for assistance. Instead, Accidini contacted French authorities for help.

Alex also used Accidini's Facebook account to contact his grandmother back in the UK.

He wrote: "Hello Grandma, it's me Alex. I'm in France Toulouse. I really hope that you receive this message. I love you, I want to come home."

It is understood that Alex, originally from Oldham, had been living in the remote Pyrenean valleys as part of an itinerant commune, travelling from place to place.

Alex's grandmother, Susan Caruana - who is also his legal guardian - told the BBC in 2018 that she believed Alex's mother Melanie Batty and grandfather David Batty had taken him to live with a spiritual community in Morocco.

She said at the time they were seeking a different lifestyle and did not want Alex to go to school.

Alex won't say where his mother is or exactly where he had been living in the Pyrenees, the prosecutor's office told the BBC.

Image source, .

Image source, Greater Manchester Police

Good morning and welcome.

Police are to give an update shortly after a 17-year-old British teen was found this week, six years after he went missing.

Alex Batty, 17, was found in France on Wednesday by a motorist.

He vanished in 2017, aged 11, after going on holiday to Marbella, Spain, with his mother and grandfather on 30 September 2017.

The pair do not have parental guardianship of the 17-year-old and remain wanted over his disappearance.

Prior to being found this week, Alex had last been seen at the Port of Malaga on 8 October 2017.

We’re expecting a statement from Greater Manchester Police at 09:30 GMT. Stay with us for the latest updates.