Was Ben Needham crushed by digger?
Fresh heartache for missing toddler’s mother as witness comes forward 25 years on
POLICE now fear missing toddler Ben Needham was killed by accident on the day he vanished 25 years ago and buried nearby.
The 21-month-old is believed to have been crushed by a JCB digger when he wandered out of the farmhouse on the Greek island of Kos where his grandparents were looking after him.
A new witness has come forward following a TV appeal in Greece four months ago, leading detectives to conclude he is dead after identifying where his body is probably buried, Ben’s mother has revealed.
A specialist South Yorkshire Police search team will travel to Kos later this month and examine two sites that have not been searched previously.
The development raises more quesward tions about the professionalism of the original Greek police inquiry, because after a worldwide hunt, detectives now suspect he could be lying yards from where he was last seen.
Ben’s mother Kerry Needham, 44, sobbed as she spoke about her ‘anger’ at the new information being kept secret for decades and said police had warned her to ‘prepare for the worst’.
She was told that the information from a friend of the digger driver was ‘more than hearsay but it’s not concrete evidence as yet’.
She added: ‘They believe that Ben came to an accident that day with the JCB machine that was working in the area.
‘We don’t want to accept it. We don’t want to believe it. We’ve lived for 25 years with that hope that one day he will come through the door.
‘This time I think it’s time to finalise it, lay it to rest, lay Ben to rest, lay our lives to rest if you like.’
The digger driver, Konstantinos Barkas, who was interviewed by police the day after Ben disappeared in July 1991, died from cancer last year. His ‘friend’ who has now come for not with fresh information reportedly saw the driver – known as Dino – ‘sweating and shaking’ after returning from the police station.
Barkas allegedly told the friend ‘it’s possible’ there could have been a tragic accident.
Miss Needham said she was angry that the new witness had kept quiet for so long, adding: ‘He could have ended this 25 years ago. I could have done something with my life instead of having my life on hold and not being able to do anything or focus on anything and living this nightmare.
‘I could have probably forgiven that person back then but now, no. It’s 25 years of misery to find out this ending. It’s going to be difficult.’
Miss Needham and her family are now steeling themselves for the possibility that police will finally solve the mystery and find Ben’s remains.
South Yorkshire Police have spoken about the new information they have received but have confirmed a fresh dig will take place.
Detective Superintendent Matt Fenwick, who is leading the inquiry, said: ‘There will be planned operational activity at two locations on the island that have been identified as areas of interest to the investigation. We continue to keep an open mind and have updated Ben’s family about certain lines of inquiry we’re currently exploring.’
The Home Office has provided £1.15million to pay for the current British investigation and funds are due to run out next month.
If the latest searches prove fruitless, it’s feared the mystery of what happened to Ben may never be solved.
Ben vanished on July 24, 1991, when Miss Needham, who was 19 at the time, left him with her parents Eddie and Christine Needham while she worked at a local hotel. The boy’s grandparents had emigrated to Kos.
Ben wandered off at around 2.30pm and when the grandparents realised he wasn’t there they searched the surrounding area.
Police were not contacted for at least three hours because they thought he must have gone with Kerry’s 17-year-old brother Stephen, who left the farmhouse on his moped around the time Ben was last seen playing.
Police investigated but found no clues to explain what had happened. Over the years there have been hundreds of reported sightings of Ben and images showing what he would look like as he grew up have been released periodically.
In 2012 the case returned to the headlines when South Yorkshire Police excavated land near the farmhouse where Ben was last seen, but no trace of him was found.
At the time Barkas told a newspaper: ‘Yes, I was the man with the JCB that day. Loads of earth was being taken to clear the ground for the new house. I think people were misled in thinking the child was abducted. Could there have been an accident? I don’t think so but no one really knows what happened.’
‘We don’t want to believe it’