Timeline of a mystery

July 24 1991: Ben Needham vanishes while playing near the grounds of a farmhouse in the Iraklis region of Kos, which his family are renovating.

July 26 1991: Eyewitness reports claim a boy matching Ben’s description was found at the local airport on the day he disappeared. That boy has never been traced.

June 2003: The Metropolitan Police issue an image of what Ben might look like at 12-14 years old.

2004: An anonymous businessman offers a reward of £500,000 for information leading to Ben’s safe return.

October 2010: Another public appeal is made by Ben’s mother in the run-up to what would be his 21st birthday.

September 2011: Greek police on Kos officially re-open the case.

October 2012: South Yorkshire Police in Kos begin digging up mounds around the property where Ben went missing to look for his remains.

January 2015: The Home Office agrees to fund a team of British detectives to help search for the toddler.

March/April 2015: Three generations of Ben Needham’s family travel to Greece to follow up a “strong” lead that a man living there believes he may be the missing Brit due to having no photographs of himself under the age of two and no knowledge of where he was born. The man is later ruled out.

September 2016: Ben’s family are told to “prepare for the worst” as police arrive in Kos to begin excavation work.