Mother of missing Ben Needham vows to continue search for son

A digital portrait shows shows how he may have looked in 2012
ES Composite

The mother of missing Ben Needham says she will keep on searching for her son, 30 years after his disappearance.

Ben went missing on the Greek island of Kos at the age of 21 months and police believe he died on July 24, 1991, as a result of an accident involving “heavy machinery”.

He was staying at his grandparents’ farmhouse on the Greek island when he vanished but Kerry Needham believes her son is still alive.

She told the Daily Mirror: “I still have that hope that South Yorkshire Police are wrong.

“And while there is no evidence to show me, I have to believe he is still alive.

“There’s not a single thread of evidence to say otherwise.”

Detective Inspector Jon Cousins of South Yorkshire Police in Kos, Greece, as officers from South Yorkshire Police searched for missing toddler Ben Needham (Gareth Fuller/PA)
PA Archive

She added that she feels “stuck” in 1991 and has devoted three decades to the search of her son, adding: “I’ve never had any dreams or goals apart from finding Ben.”

Detectives from South Yorkshire Police carried out a three-week search of Kos in 2016.

Speaking at the time, then Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said: “My team and I know that machinery, including a large digger, was used to clear an area of land on 24 July 1991, behind the farmhouse that was being renovated by the Needhams.

“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.

“The events leading up to and following that incident have been explored by my team of experts to great lengths. The fact that we have not had a direct result during this visit to Kos does not preclude the facts that we know to be true.”

He said the investigation would not close and new information would be looked at, adding: “We will not stop in our quest to find further answers for Ben’s family.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in