POLICE TURN UP FRESH CLUE IN HUNT FOR BEN
Forensic test on soil
POLICE searching for toddler Ben Needham have uncovered signs of decomposed flesh.
They have already found fragments of cloth which could be from his T-shirt.
The evidence of decomposition was found in an olive grove next to a farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos where 21-month-old Ben went missing 25 years ago.
South Yorkshire Police, who yesterday began their fourth day of digging, have sent soil samples to a lab in Aberdeen to try to find out if the material could be human remains.
They have made three similar discoveries in the investigation but tests revealed they were from a pet dog, excrement and a bat.
Detective Inspector Jon Cousins said: “There is another ® area of decomposition that has not been ruled out yet and that is what we are working on. “There are nutrients in the soil that are consistent with the decomposition of something.” A nearby septic tank has also been searched by a diver. Officers are painstakingly sifting tons of soil in the search for Ben, from Sheffield, who was on holiday with his family. The latest theory is that he was accidentally killed by a mechanical digger and then buried. But the search could be held up by the discovery of up to six 2,000-year-old tombstones. Police must now get permission from Greek authorities to continue digging.