Alex Batty has said that life is good as he spoke about having new found friends at college - a change from the commune where he said there was nobody his own age.
The 17-year-old went missing aged 11 in 2017 after his mother Melanie Batty, who was not his legal guardian, took him on a pre-arranged trip to Spain with his grandfather David Batty.
Photographs reveal a smiling Alex, 17, visiting a school, cycling along a disused railway line and sitting at a computer screen while living under a fake name in France.