Latest news about Ben Needham - Police to dig up mound of Earth

Police on Greek island 'to dig up mound of earth' where they fear British toddler Ben Needham is buried, 21 years after he went missing

• Police investigate mound of rubble where toddler might have been accidentally buried
  
• His mother Kerry Needham insists he is still alive
  

By Anna Edwards

PUBLISHED:07:57, 22 August 2012| UPDATED:14:11, 22 August 2012

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Mystery: Baby Ben, who was just 21 months old when he vanished in July 1991

British police searching for missing Ben Needham, who disappeared as a toddler 21 years ago, want to dig up a plot in Greece over suspicions he may be buried there,

Officers are in talks with police from the Greek island of Kos over fears that the little boy may have been accidentally buried under rubble.

Ben was just 21-months-old when he disappeared from the island of Kos in July 1991, and there has been no trace of him since despite an international search.

The Daily Mirror reported that Ben's body could have been covered up with rubble dumped by a driver who was excavating earth near to where he disappeared.

Officers are considering using sophisticated 3D scanning equipment to hunt for bones beneath the earth's surface, the newspaper reported.

South Yorkshire Police confirmed that they were contemplating making another search of the area where Ben vanished.

His mother, Kerry Needham, 40, said the 'heart wrenching' potential discovery of her son's dead body was a 'horrendous thought' but necessary.

She insists that Ben is still alive and told the Daily Mirror that she believed police would not find Ben in the latest investigation and this would lead to a renewed man hunt for her child.

Ms Needham, who was just 19 when Ben went missing, said to the newspaper: 'It is going to be soul destroying but once they have done it and not found Ben, the Greek police and everyone else in the world will know my son's alive.'


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She said her years spent waiting for an answer as to what happened to her child had been torture, and that she and her family have been victims of untrue rumours that they had been involved with Ben's disappearance.



Searching: Officers are in talks with police from the Greek island of Kos over fears that the little boy may have been accidentally buried under rubble near the holiday home where he disappeared (pictured)

Ben disappeared on the afternoon of July 24, 1991, after his young mother left him with her parents while she went to work at a hotel.


Eddie and Christine Needham took him to a farmhouse belonging to their friend Michaelis Kypreos, where the couple ate lunch as their grandson played outside.


But when they realised Ben had fallen silent, they discovered he was nowhere to be seen and called for a police search team.



The hunt continues: Greek detectives outside the Needhams' house where Ben disappeared. Grandparents Eddie and Christine Needham took him to this farmhouse belonging to their friend Michaelis Kypreos






Ben's file was re-opened in May after JCB driver Konstantinos Barkas (left) came forward to reveal he had been digging on the site when the boy went missing (right)







Holiday home: The house where the Needhams were staying at the time of Ben's disappearance



Theories: Police believed that Ben may have wandered into tangled undergrowth and ended up under rubble the builders were dumping there


Greek police have regarded the theory that Ben was accidentally buried as one of the most plausible explanations for the youngster's disappearance, according to the Daily Mirror.

They believed that Ben may have wandered into tangled undergrowth and ended up under rubble the builders were dumping there.

Ben's file was re-opened in May after JCB driver Konstantinos Barkas came forward to reveal he had been digging on the site when the boy went missing.


Kerry Needham has dismissed previous claims that Ben was buried under rubble and insists he is still alive





Never found: Ben, who slipped out of his grandparents' sight at a farmhouse owned by their friend, would be 23 this year

He told the Mirror at the time: 'Yes, I was the man with the JCB that day. Loads of earth was being taken to clear the ground for the new house down the road.'

The 61-year-old said he does not believe Ben was abducted.


At the time Ms Needham dismissed the new theory that he could have been buried close to the farmhouse, which was being renovated by her father Eddie.




Ms Needham said the rubble was already there when the Needham family were staying there.


She has always clung desperately to the belief that Ben is still alive and said she hopes he is happy with any family who have brought him up.

Ms Needham said at the time: 'My dad was renovating the farmhouse. There was some building work going on but it was further down the lane from the farmhouse where Ben was .

'The area where they are referring to is to the left of the property. That mound of rubble and waste was already there while Ben was still there .










Nightmare: Grandparents Eddie (left) and Christine (right) were looking after Ben while young mother Kerry (centre) was at work

'I have to gather my strength and keep fighting. The one thing I don’t want to happen is for the British public to think "Ok then Ben’s dead and we no longer have to search for him".


'I believe Ben is not dead, he is still alive and he is well and he is living out there.'

Ms Needham claimed in June that she was being held to ransom by a man demanding £500,000 to reveal her son's whereabouts.



She said that private investigators in Greece had contacted her through her Facebook page to say a man was offering information but wanted assurances that the original reward of £500,000 her family had offered was still available.



She said when she emailed the agency they said they had lost contact with the informant and privacy laws meant that they could not tell her his identity.





Enlarge

A computer generated image of how a 13-year-old Ben Needham might have looked in 2003 (left) and a reward note released by South Yorkshire Police at the time of Ben's disappearance







Appeal for sightings: These computer-generated images, released in the last decade as hopes of ever finding Ben faded, showed how he might have looked at the age of 10 (left) and 18 (right)

When Mrs Needham appeared on T.V. a few months ago she said she was hoping that wherever Ben is he would see the

T.V. or read in the paper and look at his thigh where a birthmark would still be visible.