MISSING toddler Ben Needham’s mum faces a frantic wait for DNA results on a man claiming to be her son amid fresh hope.
Kerry Needham was contacted earlier this year by a woman who said her boyfriend believes he could be the tot, who vanished almost 35 years ago on the Greek island of Kos.
She told The Sun how she’d received an email out of the blue in January, and flagged it to South Yorkshire Police, who have been leading the investigation on the British side since Ben went missing on July 24 1991.
Mum-of-two, 53, from Sheffield, admitted she was keeping a “very very open mind”, with cops preparing to do DNA testing.
However, she has now admitted her frustrations after losing touch with the couple.
In a Facebook post, Kerry – who now lives in Antalya, Turkey – said: “Over the past few weeks we unfortunately lost contact with the person who requested the DNA test, which was understandably concerning for everyone involved.
“We’re very relieved to say that the situation has now been resolved and contact has been re-established.”
She went on to say, the “next step” is to hopefully obtain a DNA sample through a request via Interpol.
Kerry explained: “This process can take time, but we are grateful that things are now moving forward again and that there is still a path toward getting the answers we’ve all been hoping for.”
She said out of respect for the man’s privacy she would not be sharing any details about who he is at this stage.
“What matters most is making sure he feels supported and protected throughout this process,” she continued.
“We want him to know that he is not alone in this. We will continue to do everything we can to support him and help guide this process in the most respectful and careful way possible.”
Speaking to the Sun in January, Kerry had first revealed hours earlier she’d received the email.
“When I got that email last night, I didn’t jump for joy and think this could be him, because I’ve got no photograph, I’ve got very little information,” she explained.
“The woman just said there are a lot of coincidences, a lot of things don’t add up from his past.
“It’s a case of getting more information out of that person without being too cold but without being too involved either,” Kerry said of the similar tip-offs over the years.
In summer 1991, she had relocated with Ben to the Greek island to start a new life with her parents, who were already settled there, when the tragedy happened.
21-month-old Ben had been left with his grandparents, Eddie and Christine, at a farmhouse they were renovating while Kerry, 19 at the time, went to work at a hotel.
The tot had been coming in and out of the house, but at 2.30pm it was found he’d vanished, seemingly without a trace.
Initially, after a two-hour search, the family assumed Ben had gone off with his teenage uncle Stephen, who had been helping his dad with work at the property before heading home on his moped.
But this was not the case, and on later finding Stephen alone at the family’s apartment, panic suddenly set in. Where was Ben?
For the next 35 years the family has been desperate for answers – with Kerry convinced Ben is still alive and was likely snatched by child traffickers.
In 2012, the digger theory emerged, which suggested Ben had been killed when a digger accidentally crushed him in an olive grove behind the farmhouse.
Digger driver Konstantinos ‘Dino’ Barkas was working nearby and an anonymous tipster claimed in 2015 he then told him on his death bed he had been responsible and had buried Ben’s remains.
However, multiple excavations, including at all sites he was permitted to dump rubble and waste on the island, have failed to find any trace of the toddler.
Kerry said: “If there had been an accident, there would have been something… They dug so deep in that area that they found an ancient burial ground.
“So I’m sure they can find one fragment of a child or a drop of blood, anything. They found nothing.”
Kerry moved to Antalya a couple of years ago and says it’s helped her to remain focused.
She said: “I live a simple life, I’ve got a partner here. I’m doing basically what I would be doing in the UK, being a housewife and doing whatever I’m doing with Ben’s campaign and following up information.
“The same but a very warm and beautiful country.
“I’ve got a good network of support around me,” she said of her move to Turkey.
“If I’m having a bad day I can take myself off down the beach, sit on the beach and listen to the sea, it’s a calming effect. I don’t seem to be as stressed.”
A South Yorkshire Police spokesperson told The Sun previously: “We recently received a report of a woman who believes her partner to be missing person Ben Needham.
“Enquiries are ongoing into the report. Ben’s family are aware of this report, and we will continue to keep them up to date with our enquiries.
“We will continue to support them in their endeavour to discover the truth of what happened on 24 July 1991.”
Timeline of the Ben Needham missing person case
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.
