Mum’s anguish as UK police be part of probe after boy’s stays present in river

The mom of a British toddler who went lacking greater than 30 years in the past has spoken of her anguish after UK police confirmed they were “looking into” the discovery of the human stays of a younger boy within the River Danube in Germany.

Kerry Needham, now 51, was a younger mum staying on the Greek island Kos when her son Ben Needham disappeared from their household house on the island. Ben was simply 21 months outdated when he vanished.

Kerry has lengthy believed that her son was kidnapped and trafficked – and, in 1996, a prisoner claimed that Ben was in Germany.

Last yr, a toddler’s stays had been discovered, wrapped in foil and weighed down with a concrete slab, within the Danube River in Grossmehring, Bavaria. Interpol has mentioned the kid was not German – and will have been kidnapped from abroad.

The International Criminal Police Organization has since issued a ‘black notice’ interesting for assist to establish the stays of a 5 or six-year-old boy. And South Yorkshire Police have now confirmed they’re “looking into” the invention.

The drive has assured Kerry it’s going to organize a gathering along with her and the brand new Detective Inspector concerned in Ben’s case.

Kerry instructed The Mirror: “I think Ben has been trafficked. It’s what we’ve thought since he went missing. It started when a strange man approached my dad on Kos after Ben went missing and told him: ‘Your grandson has been abducted to be sold. He’s blonde and blue eyed’.”

However, in 2016 South Yorkshire Police began digging on the island of Kos. They instructed the Needhams, who got here from Sheffield, {that a} witness had come ahead – they usually now believed Ben was killed in a digger accident close to the farmhouse he vanished from.

“I did believe it in the beginning, but then it all changed after the second dig,” said Kerry. “The only evidence was the DNA from a toy car they found. But the forensic tests came back and the DNA was not Ben’s. There is no evidence – nothing – to prove their theory, despite their hard work. After that, to me then, the whole theory went down the drain.”

Last week, Kerry was instructed by followers on social media followers of the ‘Help Find Ben’ marketing campaign in regards to the stays of a kid present in Germany.

“This child has obviously been disposed of in the most horrific way,” Kerry mentioned. “I thought the reconstructed face had similarities to Ben but there’s a lot of little boys who resemble Ben. But even my parents say the picture looks familiar.

“They have similar eye shapes where one of the eyes slants down a little bit. And then, on Thursday night, my stomach churned when I realised: ‘Oh my god we had a German connection years ago!’.”

Back in 1996, 5 years after Ben vanished, her dad and mom Christine and Eddie Needham, now aged 70 and 74, appeared on Greek TV. A convict at Larissa Prison known as in claimed Ben was residing in Germany with considered one of his kinfolk.

Kerry mentioned. “Ben would have been coming up to seven years old then. The Operation Ben team told me they had thoroughly ruled the prisoner out and he’d told them he’d lied but I don’t know the details. It could have been a cruel, cruel hoax but that prisoner’s story never faltered and never changed. He even convinced the British Consulate at the time.”

However, it appears the claim was taken seriously and promises to return Ben were made. The British Consul to Athens, Gordon Bernard, went to an arranged meet – but nobody turned up, and Ben remained missing. The Mirror spoke to Mr Bernard in 2015 and, nearly 20 years after prisoner’s claims on TV, and he said he was still convinced Ben had been trafficked.

Kerry told The Mirror: “I haven’t seen the South Yorkshire police report, so I don’t know what they did to rule it out. I know they spoke to the prisoner again and the German police went to the relative’s house and Ben wasn’t there. But that case haunted me for years and now it’s haunting me again.”

She is now hoping that new the brand new boss at South Yorkshire Police Detective Inspector concerned in investigating Ben’s disappearance seems on the case with a “fresh pair of eyes”.

Kerry mentioned: “The police have told me certain people who were interviewed on Kos by Operation Ben had inconsistencies in their statements.

“If People were lying then it warrants further investigation. If it was a murder investigation in England, would the police be satisfied with inconsistencies in statements? I really worry that because of limited funds police were under pressure to close the case. “They say they will investigate if any significant leads appear but I want them to have the funds to find those leads themselves.

“Pressure needs to be put back on the British Government to give more funds so our police can keep pressure on the Greek authorities and keep investigating. Bring these people back in until they get the truth.

“No one can go to prison or be prosecuted because of the statute of limitations in Greece but it could help give us answers. I’m Ben’s mum it infuriates me more to know people are lying and covering up the truth. Child trafficking is really horrific, the numbers of children who go missing every year. I actually do think Ben could have been one of them.”

Kerry additionally hopes German police will launch extra particulars and assist to finish her “agony”.

She mentioned: “I hope and pray this little boy is not Ben but an investigation has to be done to rule him out. This is a really agonising and traumatic time for me waiting and even more so given the horrific circumstances of this child’s death.”