‘LAST CHANCE’ 

Unearthed case files could FINALLY prove what happened to my missing son Ben Needham… this is my final hope

HIDDEN case files that could shed new light on what happened to missing Ben Needham may finally be released.

Mum Kerry Needham has moved a step forward in retrieving the forgotten cache of documents, which she believes includes key information dating back to her son’s disappearance nearly 35 years ago.

Ben Needham was 21 months old when he disappeared in Kos in 1991Credit: PA:Press Association
 

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Ben’s mum Kerry Needham is convinced her son is still aliveCredit: Peter Byrne
She says it’s likely her “last chance” to understand what happened to the toddler – who she fears was abducted by child traffickers and then illegally adopted.

Ben was just 21-months-old when he vanished on the Greek island of Kos in July 1991 after moving out there with his mum to start a new life – joining Kerry’s parents and brother, who already lived there.

Kerry, 53, from Sheffield, claimed South Yorkshire Police – which has been co-ordinating the case from the UK since the beginning – told her last month it was scaling back its involvement.

And despite the force since appearing to U-turn – allegedly telling the desperate mum during a meeting on Wednesday there had been a “miscommunication” and nothing was changing – Kerry has begun discussions with a Greece-based private investigation firm.

She has explained how the company emailed her out of the blue in the midst of the uncertainty around the case’s future – assuring her it could get hold of elusive case files held by Kos cops she’s been trying to get since 2016.

Speaking to The Sun this week, Kerry said: “They’ve said that shouldn’t be a problem.

“They can then start from the beginning, look through the case files of everything that’s been done by the Greek police.

“They can study it from day one – which has never been done.”

Kerry with her parents, Eddie and Christine, soon after Ben disappearedCredit: Rex Features
 

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South Yorkshire Police excavate a site in Kos in September 2016Credit: PA
 

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Ben was playing outside a farmhouse being renovated by his grandparents when he disappearedCredit: SWNS:South West News Service
 

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The digger belonging to Dino Barkas, which some believe accidentally killed BenCredit: Doug Seeburg – The Sun
She said the two South Yorkshire Police superintendents she met at the force headquarters assured her copies of “everything they have” have also been sent to their counterparts in Greece.

However, she remains confused as to why the UK cops can’t simply handover whatever they have to her.

Kerry said: “I’ve been asking since 2016 – I’ve asked every SIO (senior investigating officer) that Ben’s case has had if I can have access to them files and I’ve been denied.

“I don’t understand why.”

Kerry said: “I’m not sure if it’s because it remains an open case. I think if the case was closed, then I could then get them. But maybe there’s still certain protocol.

“I’ve never been given a specific reason and I don’t know if it’s simply stalling tactics.”

She continued: “I’ve never asked the Greek police for them – I suppose they’d be in Greek anyway, so I couldn’t read them, and they’d need to be translated which the private investigators can help with.”

She understands, in particular, the files would include statements made by a number of key witnesses, as well as notes and lines of enquiry taken by local detectives in the immediate aftermath of Ben disappearing.

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An age progression facial depiction of Ben as an adultCredit: Daily Mirror
 

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Kerry with mum Christine in 2012 during one of the major searchesCredit: Lee Thompson – The Sun
There would also likely be reports from the lengthy excavation undertaken on the island in 2016 after a tip-off relating to a digger driver who had allegedly claimed he’d accidentally killed Ben near his grandparents’ farmhouse.

However, the tipster, who said he spoke to the driver before his death, then retracted his claims. Meanwhile, the subsequent dig carried out by UK police failed to provide any evidence indicating Ben had been killed.

Kerry said: “I want to see what the operation did during the excavation – who they spoke to, I want to know exactly what the witness said.”

She said for years she’s been told by various support officers “I should have them (the case files) – I need to look at them”, adding: “I’ve been asking since 2016 and still haven’t had my hands on them.”

Kerry said multiple witnesses from throughout the case need to be spoken to again to clear up “inconsistencies”, including one who she understands lives in the US.

As well as certain officers involved in Kos from the early 90s – who she claims UK police have since been blocked from speaking to by Greek authorities.

“These people are getting old, they’re in their 70s,” she explained.

“If something happens to them, whatever they know, is going to die with them.

“Things need to be actioned now before it’s too late.”

She is hopeful that the private detectives – who estimate they’d need around 20,000 euros to carry out their enquiries, which she is having to raise the funds for herself through GoFundMe – will be able to track down certain people involved in the case and speak to them themselves.

“It’s the one of the only thing that I’ve not ever done,” Kerry continued. “I’ve never had a private detective on Ben’s case.

“I think private detectives sometimes, they don’t have more power than the police, but they haven’t got any of the same protocols.

“They haven’t got any red tape to go through. They can just go to the source. They can just go in there.”

Kerry – who is awaiting the DNA testing result of a man who was adopted in the US and believes he could be Ben – is convinced her son was snatched by child traffickers.

In part because there is “no evidence to support” him having been killed in a digger accident or being murdered.

She continued: “There’s nothing to prove it was an abduction.

“But I know by working on Ben’s case for 35 years, there is more chance of it being an abduction because of the amount of illegal adoptions that were happening from Greece into New York right up to the 1990s – and go back to the 60s.

“Thousands and thousands of children were illegally adopted into America, namely New York, from Greece.”

Kerry said her dad Eddie Needham was told early in the investigation by locals Ben was almost certainly snatched.

They claimed “because he’s blonde and has blue eyes he would fetch a minimum of 50,000 euros”.

She said she is given hope by recent long-term missing person cases which have resulted in abducted children found years later alive, including Christina Marie Plante who vanished in 1994 age 13 and was found this year.

And also Audrey Backenberg, found in May last year, having disappeared age 20 in 1962.

“These things happen,” Kerry said. “I suppose normal people in everyday society don’t want to think that these things happen because it’s horrific, children are getting taken away from their parents.

“It’s incomprehensible that these evil things really happen. But I’ve seen it, I’ve read about it, I’ve studied it.”

Referring to the witnesses in Ben’s case, she added: “If these people die – the secrets, the lies, or whatever dies with them, and I may never, ever find out what’s happened.

“I said to the police this week, this has consumed my whole life.

“I’ve been doing this now since I was 19 years old and I’m not willing to stop and I’m not willing to give up.”

The Sun has approached South Yorkshire Police for comment.

CRE: https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/39317534/ben-needham-missing-son-case-files/