The family of missing Ben Needham, whose disappearance triggered a 34-year mystery, has launched a website dedicated to raising awareness of the case and seeking answers.
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Ben Needham: Family launch website explaining exactly what happened on day toddler vanished
Ben Needham was 21 months old when he vanished on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991.
He and his mum, Kerry, were visiting the island to spend time with her parents, who had moved to the sunshine isle.
Kerry was also considering moving there with Ben to begin a new life in the sun. She had secured some part time work in a local hotel.
On the day Ben vanished he was playing outside a farmhouse his grandfather was renovating.
Three decades on and Ben’s disappearance still remains a mystery.
Initially it was feared that Ben had been abducted.
But then, years later, the focus of the investigation changed when police received information that Ben may have been hit by a digger which was clearing land near to where the toddler had been playing on the day he disappeared.
In 2016, a team of officers from South Yorkshire Police spent three weeks ecavating land where the digger had been operating, and recovered two items which were believed to have belonged to Ben - a piece of leather which may have been from Ben's sandal and a toy car that Ben had on the day he vanished.
Detective Inspector Jon Cousins, who led that part of the missing person probe, then issued a statement in which he said he believed Ben died “as a result of an accident”.
“It is my professional belief that Ben Needham died as a result of an accident near to the farmhouse in Iraklis where he was last seen playing,” he said.
However, Ben’s family has never given up hope that the police may be wrong.
The new website set up by Ben’s family features photographs of Ben and newspaper articles from over the decades charting all the developments in the case.
It also features a detailed timeline of events and a personal account from Ben’s mum, Kerry.
Detailing exactly what happened on the day Ben vanished, Kerry writes: “On the day he disappeared, it had started like any other day. I left Ben with my mum and went off to work at a local hotel around 10.30 a.m. It wasn’t until 10pm that I learned what had happened to Ben.
“After I left for work, my mum continued to feed Ben his breakfast and get him dressed. She decided to take a walk to visit my dad and my brother Stephen, who had just started working on an old farmhouse in the remote village of Iraklis.
“My mum set off around 11.30 am with my brother Danny, who was 10 years old at the time, and our dog. The walk would have taken around 45 minutes to an hour.
“Ben was his normal mischievous self - playing, running in and out, and pouring water over his head rather than drinking it.
“At around 2.30 pm, my dad told Stephen he could leave for the day, as no more materials had arrived and work couldn’t continue.
“When Stephen left, Ben was still playing outside the doorway.
“After a couple of minutes of Stephen leaving, my mum said, ‘Ben’s quiet - he’s probably doing something he shouldn’t be,’ and immediately went to check. But he wasn’t there.
“She looked all around the farmhouse, but there was no sign of him. She shouted for my dad to come and help her, and they all searched - calling his name again and again. The search went on for approximately two hours, but there was still no trace of Ben.
“Eventually, my mum began to think that Stephen must have taken Ben for a ride on the motorcycle without telling them. She became annoyed but decided to wait for Stephen to return with Ben. However, he never did.
“The digger arrived sometime around 4.30–5.00 pm, and Dino, the driver, asked my dad where he would like the entrance to the farmhouse to be.
“My mum then decided she would walk home, hoping she might pass Stephen on the way, as she knew by now Ben would be getting hungry.
“When she arrived home, there was no sign of either Stephen or Ben - although a full can of petrol had been left outside for the generator, just as my dad had asked Stephen to collect.
“My dad arrived home around 6pm, but still there was no sign of Stephen or Ben. So he decided to go to our apartment to see if they were there.
“Stephen was there - but Ben wasn’t.
“When my dad asked where Ben was, Stephen looked confused and said, ‘He’s at the farmhouse with you. I haven’t got him’.
”And that’s when the awful panic set in.
“Dad and Danny drove straight to the farmhouse, while Mum and Stephen went to the police station. The officer on duty didn’t seem to take mum seriously and said, ‘How can you lose a child? Go home and look again.’ Mum, distraught, shouted, ‘We’ve searched and searched — he’s not there!’
“Two police officers were then instructed to follow mum and Stephen back to the farmhouse, where dad gave a full account of what had happened. The police began searching the surrounding area, including barns and animal shelters, but they refused to conduct house-to-house searches, saying it was 9pm and would be an invasion of privacy.
“At around 10 pm, I heard my name being called from the reception area. Two police officers stood there with my mum, who was sobbing uncontrollably. They told me, ‘Ben is missing.’
“The hotel staff immediately gathered water, food, and torches, and followed the police car to the scene. We all began frantically searching again.
“We searched through the night until morning, when the police told us to come to the station to give our official statements.”
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