The mother of a British toddler who vanished on a Greek island 35 years ago has shared her firm belief that he was abducted by a trafficking gang and sold for illegal adoption, dismissing the long-held police theory that he was accidentally killed.
A Mother's Unwavering Belief
Kerry Needham, 53, has never accepted the official hypothesis that her 21-month-old son, Ben, was crushed by a digger on the island of Kos on 24 July 1991. The boy disappeared from outside his grandparents' farmhouse in the village of Iraklis. Despite extensive excavations in 2012 and beyond prompted by a deathbed confession from digger driver Konstantinos 'Dino' Barkas, no trace of Ben was ever found.
Speaking from her home in Antalya, Turkey, Ms Needham told of a new lead. A woman recently contacted her, convinced her boyfriend could be Ben, citing "a lot of coincidences" in his past. The information has been passed to South Yorkshire Police, who are arranging a DNA test. However, Ms Needham remains cautiously hopeful, stating she has "very little information" and has not yet seen a picture.
The Trafficking Theory Investigated
Ms Needham's conviction that Ben was trafficked stems from a tip-off received years ago. A Greek man contacted Ben's grandfather, Eddie, urging him to investigate gypsy gangs involved in selling children for illegal adoption. The informant chillingly noted that Ben's blonde hair and blue eyes would have made him particularly valuable.
"It sounded impossible at first," Ms Needham admitted, but the tip sent her on a deep dive into human trafficking networks in Greece. Her research revealed that such crimes were "absolutely rife" across the country from the 1950s to the 1990s. She discovered that New York was a major hub for illegal adoptions during that era, explaining how children could "disappear without a trace."
She claims that two former Kos police officers later alleged they had information Ben was "taken off the island" via a port shortly after vanishing—a lead she says was never properly pursued by Greek authorities.
Frustrations and a Stark Comparison
The mother's quest has been marred by frustration over the perceived lack of resources dedicated to Ben's case compared to other high-profile disappearances. She voiced pointed criticism of the disparity between the support her family received and that given to Kate and Gerry McCann after their daughter, Madeleine, vanished in Portugal in 2007.
"I'm not being offhand with the McCanns, they deserve the help as much as I do," she said. "It just seems help wasn't readily available for me in the beginning or throughout." She argued that mistakes were made by the British Embassy in Athens and the UK government initially, while the McCanns received "all the help and resources."
Ms Needham's current focus is gaining access to the full case files from Kos police, hoping to pursue forgotten leads. However, Greek statute of limitations laws now prevent the interrogation of some witnesses. She maintains a "mother's instinct" that her son is alive, a feeling that pushes her to continue searching despite the "massive toll" on her mental health.
A spokesperson for South Yorkshire Police confirmed: "We recently received a report of a woman who believes her partner to be missing person Ben Needham. Enquiries are ongoing... We will continue to support [the family] in their endeavour to discover the truth of what happened on 24 July 1991."
