Cops digging for missing tot Ben Needham start knocking down farmhouse to search under it
POLICE searching for Ben Needham have started to knock down a farmhouse extension built months after the toddler disappeared on Kos.
British cops had asked to knock down one room of a building, as a specialist team begins a second week of detailed excavations close to where the 21-month-old went missing in 1991.
Today Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said his negotiations with the farmhouse owners were successful but he acknowledged it was a difficult decision for them.
The officer thanked the family for their understanding.
He said : "Discussions I've had with the family that own the farmhouse have resulted in the fact that at some stage early afternoon I will be dismantling the lower part of the farmhouse and clearing the ground around it - as I said before, just making sure that I haven't missed any opportunities to get the answers that we require."
Ben vanished 25 years ago while on holiday with his family - and according to a new witness, may have been buried by a digger driver following an accident.
Police believe Ben may have been crushed to death by a digger after its operator Konstantinos Barkas, who has since died of stomach cancer, told a man from Kos that Ben died in an accident and he covered the body up.
Mr Cousins said a newspaper photograph from 1991 had alerted the team to the fact that the extension he is to demolish was not there when Ben disappeared.
He added that it will be up to the family whether it is rebuilt but he confirmed that was not the plan at the moment.
Mr Cousins said: "The family are clearly upset about what we're doing.
"They have very kindly agreed to allow us to do that and I am extremely grateful for that.
"Clearly it's going to be a distressing time for them. This is where many generations, including the current generation, were born and grew up and we've got to deal with it as sensitively as possible."
Fresh excavation work began on September 26 - but was delayed after the site’s landowner threatened legal action over the discovery of an ancient burial site.
However, the search restarted on Friday, with police and volunteers sifting through masses of soil in an attempt to find traces of the missing toddler.
Cops have also been looking for fragments of clothes Ben could have been wearing that day and analysing a picture of a fig tree planted after his disappearance.
Investigators have even had replicas of Ben's leather sandals made by a local cobbler, which they hope will help search teams.
Ben’s heartbroken mum, Kerry Needham, 43, has told how her life has been on hold since her son went missing in 1991.
Speaking to Good Morning Britain, she said: “He could have ended this 25 years ago. I could have grieved.
“You never forget your child but at least I would have known where he was. I could have done something with my life.
“Instead I’ve had a life on hold without being able to do anything or focus on anything. I’m living this nightmare – but it could have been ended 25 years ago.
“I could have probably forgiven that person back then. But now, no.”
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