Kerry Needham’s son Ben went missing 30-years ago (Image: Daily Mirror)
The mother of a British toddler who went missing more than 30 years ago has spoken of her anguish after UK police confirmed they were “looking into” the discovery of the human remains of a young boy in the River Danube in Germany.
Kerry Needham, now 51, was a young mum staying on the Greek island Kos when her son Ben Needham disappeared from their family home on the island. Ben was just 21 months old when he vanished.
Kerry has long believed that her son was kidnapped and trafficked – and, in 1996, a prisoner claimed that Ben was in Germany.
Read more… Police to investigate if boy’s body in German river is missing Brit Ben Needham
Ben Needham was jst 21 months old when he vanished (Image: PA)
Last year, a child’s remains were found, wrapped in foil and weighed down with a concrete slab, in the Danube River in Grossmehring, Bavaria. Interpol has said the child was not German – and may have been abducted from overseas.
The International Criminal Police Organization has since issued a ‘black notice’ appealing for help to identify the remains of a five or six-year-old boy. And South Yorkshire Police have now confirmed they are “looking into” the discovery.
The force has assured Kerry it will arrange a meeting with her and the new Detective Inspector involved in Ben’s case.
Kerry told The Mirror: “I think Ben has been trafficked. It’s what we’ve thought since he went missing. It started when a strange man approached my dad on Kos after Ben went missing and told him: ‘Your grandson has been abducted to be sold. He’s blonde and blue eyed’.”
However, in 2016 South Yorkshire Police started digging on the island of Kos. They told the Needhams, who came from Sheffield, that a witness had come forward – and they now believed Ben was killed in a digger accident near the farmhouse he vanished from.
“I did believe it in the beginning, but then it all changed after the second dig,” said Kerry. “The only evidence was the DNA from a toy car they found. But the forensic tests came back and the DNA was not Ben’s. There is no evidence – nothing – to prove their theory, despite their hard work. After that, to me then, the whole theory went down the drain.”
Last week, Kerry was told by followers on social media followers of the ‘Help Find Ben’ campaign about the remains of a child found in Germany.
“This child has obviously been disposed of in the most horrific way,” Kerry said. “I thought the reconstructed face had similarities to Ben but there’s a lot of little boys who resemble Ben. But even my parents say the picture looks familiar.
“They have similar eye shapes where one of the eyes slants down a little bit. And then, on Thursday night, my stomach churned when I realised: ‘Oh my god we had a German connection years ago!’.”
Back in 1996, five years after Ben vanished, her parents Christine and Eddie Needham, now aged 70 and 74, appeared on Greek TV. A convict at Larissa Prison called in claimed Ben was living in Germany with one of his relatives.
Kerry said. “Ben would have been coming up to seven years old then. The Operation Ben team told me they had thoroughly ruled the prisoner out and he’d told them he’d lied but I don’t know the details. It could have been a cruel, cruel hoax but that prisoner’s story never faltered and never changed. He even convinced the British Consulate at the time.”
However, it appears the claim was taken seriously and promises to return Ben were made. The British Consul to Athens, Gordon Bernard, went to an arranged meet – but nobody turned up, and Ben remained missing. The Mirror spoke to Mr Bernard in 2015 and, nearly 20 years after prisoner’s claims on TV, and he said he was still convinced Ben had been trafficked.
Kerry told The Mirror: “I haven’t seen the South Yorkshire police report, so I don’t know what they did to rule it out. I know they spoke to the prisoner again and the German police went to the relative’s house and Ben wasn’t there. But that case haunted me for years and now it’s haunting me again.”
She is now hoping that new the new boss at South Yorkshire Police Detective Inspector involved in investigating Ben’s disappearance looks at the case with a “fresh pair of eyes”.
Kerry said: “The police have told me certain people who were interviewed on Kos by Operation Ben had inconsistencies in their statements.
“If People were lying then it warrants further investigation. If it was a murder investigation in England, would the police be satisfied with inconsistencies in statements? I really worry that because of limited funds police were under pressure to close the case. “They say they will investigate if any significant leads appear but I want them to have the funds to find those leads themselves.
“Pressure needs to be put back on the British Government to give more funds so our police can keep pressure on the Greek authorities and keep investigating. Bring these people back in until they get the truth.
“No one can go to prison or be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations in Greece but it could help give us answers. I’m Ben’s mum it infuriates me more to know people are lying and covering up the truth. Child trafficking is really horrific, the numbers of children who go missing every year. I actually do think Ben could have been one of them.”
Kerry also hopes German police will release more details and help to end her “agony”.
She said: “I hope and pray this little boy is not Ben but an investigation has to be done to rule him out. This is a really agonising and traumatic time for me waiting and even more so given the horrific circumstances of this child’s death.”
