BEN Needham’s mum has revealed the result of DNA testing after an adopted man in the US claimed he could be her missing son.
The stranger had contacted Kerry Needham in January and she faced an agonising wait – ahead of the 35th anniversary of her son’s disappearance next month.
Ben vanished without a trace on July 24 1991 soon after moving to the Greek island of Kos with his mum to start to a new life – joining Kerry’s parents and brother, who already lived there.
The long-running investigation, involving local cops and teams from the UK, has included a mass excavation of the area, though no evidence of what happened has ever been found.
Kerry – who was just 19 when Ben disappeared – is convinced he was snatched by people traffickers and then illegally sold into adoption.
In a post on her Facebook group Help Find Ben Needham, she wrote yesterday: “Today we received confirmation that the latest DNA testing conducted in the United States has returned a negative result.
“While it is disappointing to rule out another potential lead, we remain determined in our search for Ben and will continue to follow every credible avenue available to us.”
She went on to say: “For over three decades we have never given up hope of finding answers about what happened to Ben.
“As each lead is investigated and eliminated, it only reinforces the need for continued research, specialist support, international enquiries, and public awareness.”
It comes after Kerry, 53, originally from Sheffield, told The Sun earlier this month she has moved a step forward in retrieving a forgotten cache of documents, which she believes includes key information on Ben’s case.
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.
She says it’s likely her “last chance” to understand what happened to the toddler.
Kerry claimed South Yorkshire Police – which has been co-ordinating the case from the UK since the beginning – told her last month it was scaling back its involvement.
And despite the force since appearing to U-turn – allegedly telling the desperate mum during a meeting last week there had been a “miscommunication” and nothing was changing – Kerry has begun discussions with a Greece-based private investigation firm.
She has explained how the company emailed her out of the blue in the midst of the uncertainty around the case’s future – assuring her it could get hold of elusive case files held by Kos cops she’s been trying to get since 2016.
Kerry said: “They’ve said that shouldn’t be a problem.
“They can then start from the beginning, look through the case files of everything that’s been done by the Greek police.
“They can study it from day one – which has never been done.”
They likely include reports from the lengthy excavation undertaken on the island in 2016 after a tip-off relating to a digger driver who had allegedly claimed he’d accidentally killed Ben near his grandparents’ farmhouse.
However, the tipster, who said he spoke to the driver before his death, then retracted his claims. Meanwhile, the subsequent dig carried out by UK police failed to provide any evidence indicating Ben had been killed.
Kerry said multiple witnesses from throughout the case need to be spoken to again to clear up “inconsistencies”, including one who she understands lives in the US.
As well as certain officers involved in Kos from the early 90s – who she claims UK police have since been blocked from speaking to by Greek authorities.
“These people are getting old, they’re in their 70s,” she explained.
“If something happens to them, whatever they know, is going to die with them.
“Things need to be actioned now before it’s too late.”
She is hopeful that the private detectives – who estimate they’d need around 20,000 euros to carry out their enquiries, which she is having to raise the funds for herself through GoFundMe – will be able to track down certain people involved in the case and speak to them themselves.
In her post on Friday, Kerry said: “The support of the public is now more important than ever.
“Our GoFundMe campaign remains vital in helping us pursue new leads, obtain expert assistance, and keep Ben’s case in the public eye.
“We are incredibly grateful to everyone who has supported us so far.
“We continue to hold a strong belief that Ben may have been the victim of illegal trafficking following his disappearance.
“This possibility has never been fully ruled out and remains a significant line of enquiry.
“We are committed to pursuing every opportunity that could bring us closer to the truth.
“We ask anyone with information, no matter how small or insignificant it may seem, to come forward. Ben remains in our hearts every single day, and we will never stop searching for answers.”
