What happened to Ben Needham and what would he look like now?
FOR over three decades the disappearance of Ben Needham has remained a mystery.
Here we take a look into the 32 year search for Ben, who vanished on the Greek Island of Kos in 1991.
Who is Ben Needham and how did he disappear?
On July 24, 1991, 21-month-old Ben Needham was playing at his grandparents' farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos when he disappeared.
Ben's mum, Kerry Needham, had recently moved to Kos from Sheffield, to start a new life with her family, when the tragedy happened.
She had left her son with her grandparents while she went to work, not realising she would never see him again.
Ben had been coming in and out of the home - a farmhouse that was being renovated by the family - when, at around 2.30pm, it was discovered the young child had disappeared.
What happened in the search for Ben Needham in Kos?
At first, Ben's family began to search nearby for the tot, assuming that he had wandered off, or that Kerry’s teenage brother Stephen had taken him out for a ride on his moped.
However, there was no sign of Ben and eventually the search for him was widened.
Police efforts to dig the land at the farmhouse failed to uncover remains, though it was reportedly their “professional belief” that Ben died when a digger driver accidentally ran over him.
South Yorkshire Police have twice sent a team of their own to the island, the latest time being after a witness came forward to say that before his death, digger driver Konstantinos “Dino” Barkas, who has since died, confessed to killing Ben.
Most Read in News
"I still have that hope that South Yorkshire Police are wrong," Ben's mum, Kerry said.
While Kerry still did not accept the theory, she said things didn’t add up - such as DNA tests carried out on a toy found at the site, which did not match Ben’s.
Kerry was told that the witness, a business partner of Barkas, had claimed to have seen her son playing on a mound of soil in the morning of his disappearance.
The next day, he claimed Barkas told the witness he feared he may have run the boy over.
“I don’t know why he is claiming he saw Ben there in the morning because my mum didn’t walk up there with him until about 12.45am,” Kerry said.
“If he is wrong about that, what else is he wrong about in his statement?"
There have been more than 300 reported sightings of Ben since his disappearance.
In 2015, a man came forward to say he thought he may be Ben after the family made an appearance on Greek TV to launch a fresh appeal to find him.
The man felt he resembled a mock-up of what Ben would look like now but he was later confirmed to be an old lead by police.
Police also looked into claims after three witness came forward and told officers they saw a local worker named Maria carrying a tot that looked like the Brit youngster.
They said the campsite worker in Corfu found a blonde-haired toddler "abandoned" and may have raised Ben as her own.
However Maria, who was 21-years-old at the time, strongly denies ever finding a child, reports
She said: “I have searched my memory and this did not happen.
“I would not have taken the initiative to take a child to the police. My boss would have done that.
“I was very nervous and naive and under the protection of the restaurant owners.
“And how could I bring up the boy as my own? I have a 23-year-old daughter.
“I don’t have a son. You can ask anyone that knows me. It makes me feel sad for the mum and her loss but this is not right. This never happened.”
No trace of Ben has ever been found despite numerous investigations by both British and Greek police.
Here we take a look at the search for missing Ben:
- July 24 1991: Ben Needham vanishes while playing near the grounds of a farmhouse in the Iraklis region of Kos, which his family are renovating. His mother, Kerry Needham, and grandparents raise the alarm with local police and conduct a full search of the area.
- July 26 1991: Eyewitness reports claim a boy matching Ben's description was found at the local airport on the day he disappeared. That boy has never been traced.
- September 1991: The Needham family return to England but vow to continue the search.
- June 2003: The Metropolitan Police issue an image of what Ben might look like at age 12-14 years old.
- 2004: An anonymous businessman offers a reward of £500,000 for information leading to Ben's safe return.
- October 2010: Another public appeal is made by Ben's mother in the run-up to what would be his 21st birthday.
- May 2011: The BBC airs a programme called Missing 2011, which includes a piece on Ben's story and the campaign to find him.
- September 2011: Greek police on Kos officially re-open the case and grant the family a face-to-face meeting with the island's prosecutor.
- October 2012: South Yorkshire Police in Kos begin digging up mounds around the property where Ben went missing to look for his remains.
- December 2013: Ben's mother accuses then-Prime Minister David Cameron of not giving her case the same backing as he gave the parents of Madeline McCann. It comes as a dossier is produced containing reports from eight witnesses, none of who know each other, who all saw a boy possibly matching Ben's description with the same Greek family.
- December 2014: Lawyers representing Ben's family say they may take legal action to try to force the Government to make a decision about funding a new police investigation.
- January 2015: The Home Office agrees to fund a team of British detectives to help search for the toddler.
- March/April 2015: Three generations of Ben Needham's family travel to Greece to follow up a "strong" lead that a man living there believes he may be the missing Brit due to having no photographs of himself under the age of two and no knowledge of where he was born. The man is later ruled out.
- May 2015: Ben's family make a fresh appeal on Greek television for information regarding the disappearance.
- May 2016: The Sun reveals how members of the police operation went on an eight-hour booze-up in Kos during the latest stage of the investigation.
- September 2016: Ben's family are told to "prepare for the worst" by detectives leading the investigation, amid the belief the 21-month-old was crushed to death by a digger - the driver of which died in 2015. It comes as police arrive in Kos to begin excavation work in the belief the boy's remains may be buried near the farmhouse.
- October 15, 2016: On the penultimate day of a three week search at two locations - Site 1, near the farmhouse, and Site 2, a landfill site - an item which is believed to have belonged to Ben is discovered.
- October 16, 2016: After digging up more than 800 tonnes of soil, the excavation work comes to an end with any items of interest sent back to the UK for forensic analysis.
- October 17, 2016: South Yorkshire Police DI Jon Cousins announces the discovery of an item that backs up their theory Ben died following an accident near the farmhouse on the day he disappeared.
- July 24, 2017: It emerges blood was found on a sandal and toy car belonging to Ben. The sandal was found in 2012 at the site where Konstantinos “Dino” Barkas was operating a digger, while the car was discovered in 2016 at another spot. No further information emerged. Ben's mum makes another heartbreaking appeal for information.
- November 28, 2018: Forensic experts say the toy car found in the Kos dig does not belong to Ben.
- July 25, 2019: Ben's mum, Kerry Needham, calls on the person with a "secret" about her missing toddler to come forward, saying it was "never too late to do the right thing".
- July 2021: Police probe the claims of three witnesses that a blonde boy found on a beach wearing a white t-shirt, "crying desperately" and speaking English 587 miles away in Corfu could've been the youngster.
- July 2023: Marks the 32nd anniversary of Ben’s disappearance in 1991 but Kerry is still clinging to hopes he is alive.
What would Ben Needham look like now?
In 2013, police released an image of what they believe Ben would look like as an adult.
The artist impression showed a man with sandy blonde hair and blue eyes.
In 2016, police eliminated 30 people who resembled the image using DNA.
Years later, in 2021, an "incredible" new age-progression image was released of Ben that was created by a National Crime Agency-listed forensic artist.
It was the first age progression image of Ben in more than a decade.
The forensic artist created the image by using Ben’s childhood photographs and photos from the whole family.
Could he still be alive?
Monday, July 24, 2023 marks 32-years since the disappearance of Ben Needham and his mum Kerry is still clinging to hopes he is alive.
“We need to keep on searching for Ben,” Kerry said.
In 2023, Kerry called on cops to revisit the Greek Island to speak to a crucial witness before he dies.
Kerry also wants officers to prove their claim her son died in an accident.