Kerry Needham, the mother of Ben Needham who disappeared on the Greek island of Kos in 1991, has written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to intervene after South Yorkshire Police announced it would no longer investigate her son's case. The force has passed responsibility to Greek authorities, leaving Kerry 'devastated' and 'profoundly angry'.
In an exclusive interview with the Mirror, Kerry, 51, said she hopes to meet the PM and stressed that the investigation needs 'more funding and resources, not less'. Ben, then aged 21 months, vanished while playing outside a farmhouse his grandparents were renovating on July 24, 1991. Kerry was working nearby and her mother Christine was babysitting.
Kerry's letter to Starmer highlights what she sees as a stark disparity between the treatment of Ben's case and that of Madeleine McCann, who disappeared from a Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007. She notes that the Metropolitan Police's Operation Grange has received over £13 million in funding, while South Yorkshire Police have spent less than £2 million on Ben's case over nearly double the time.
'I do not begrudge any missing child receiving support,' Kerry wrote. 'What I cannot accept is the clear inequality in how these cases have been treated. My son should not be forgotten because he disappeared decades ago.' She added that South Yorkshire Police were the only force she could rely on to act on information, and that their withdrawal leaves her without that support.
Kerry described crying repeatedly after being told of the decision and said she is 'profoundly angry and deeply disappointed' by the reduction in police commitment. She urged the PM to ensure Ben's case receives the same seriousness as other high-profile missing children investigations, warning that opportunities for answers could be lost if resources drift elsewhere.
