Missing Ben Needham’s case is dropped by UK police 35 years after he vanished

A mother has been left ‘shaking in shock’ after UK police told her they would no longer be investigating the disappearance of her son.

Ben Needham was just 21 months old when he went missing on July 24, 1991, from outside a farmhouse on the island of Kos, Greece.

His mother, Kerry Needham, 51, has now been told the major crimes unit at South Yorkshire Police will no longer be responsible for investigations into Ben’s disappearance, and that further inquiries will be handled by the Greek police.

The force blamed a lack of time and resources for their decision to stop their search for Ben. But Ms Needham claimed the Greek police ‘have only ever wanted this case to go away.’

‘This is devastating news,’ she told The Mirror. ‘I feel like I may as well give up the search for Ben.’

Ms Needham, who now lives in Turkey with her partner, told the publication she had fought ‘every single day’ to ensure her son’s case was kept open.

She said she still feels there are ‘avenues to explore’, including now-scrapped plans to re-interview witnesses whose statements had been inconsistent and a meeting with the Greek public prosecutor planned by the senior investigating officer (SOI) on the case.

Ms Needham said South Yorkshire Police are the only people she feels she can go to with new information, describing them as a ‘lifeline’. 

‘I will never get to know anything if the Greek police are in charge of it, because they won’t do anything. They won’t organise DNA tests, they’ll just put it in a file and move on,’ she added.

Ms Needham’s mistrust of the Greek police is not unfounded. The force was previously accused of a ‘cover-up’ involving claims of fake and inconsistent witness statements.

They also failed to lock down the island when Ben first went missing 35 years ago.

The youngster was playing with cars at a property his grandparents were renovating when he vanished. Ms Needham was working at a nearby hotel, while grandmother Christine babysat.

The case was initially handled by authorities in Greece, who found no major leads. In 2011, the South Yorkshire force was brought in and carried out two major searches at the farmhouse.

The second, in 2016, took place after officers were tipped off by a witness that Ben could have been crushed to death by a digger in an incident involving the late digger driver, Konstantinos Dino Barkas.

However, no proof of this theory was ever found. On the final day of searching, investigators found a yellow toy car with decomposed blood on it, but it was not a DNA match for Ben.

Grandmother-of-two Needham doesn’t believe her son was involved in an accident and thinks Ben may have been kidnapped from the island. She has now written to the Prime Minister, urging him to step in.

The letter, seen by The Mirror, reads: ‘For years, my family has lived with unanswered questions, heartbreak, and the torment of uncertainty. Despite this, we have continued to fight because we believed the authorities were equally committed to uncovering the truth.

‘The decision to reduce support now sends a devastating message: that some missing children remain a national priority while others are quietly allowed to fade into history.’

Last week, the Met Police investigating the 2007 disappearance of three-year-old Madeleine McCann were approved for another £108,000, bringing the total spend on the case above £13million so far.

But South Yorkshire Police have now had to make the difficult decision to bring their search for Ben to an end.

South Yorkshire Police said: ‘We remain ready to support Greek authorities should any new evidence come to light, and we remain committed to supporting Kerry.

‘However, after 35 years, we must ensure all of the appropriate routes are in place and remain fit for purpose.’