Ben Needham: If is the only word as Kerry keeps asking and gypsies are watched
Ben Needham is back in the news.
Ben’s mother Kerry has been on the TV in Greece. She’s still hunting for her son who vanished 24 years ago. A new photo is doing the rounds. It was emailed to Kerry and British police? Is it Ben?
She tells the Sunday Mirror:
“My God, this is really happening. Are we going to receive the call that finally leads us to Ben?’
Calls follow this latest appeal. A man who might be Ben has been spotted in the Greek towns of Larissa and Veria.
The Mirror adds:
The Needhams have been convinced Ben was taken by gypsy family.
But not certain. Was it gypsies? Don’t know. But saying it was will strike a note with many. Gypsies are easy to blame.
In 1995, the Independent declared: “Ben’ found with gypsies.”
He wasn’t.
What we do know for certain is encapsualted in this line:
Ben, who would now be 25, vanished when he was just 21 months old during a family holiday on the island of Kos in 1991….despite numerous reported sightings – there has been no trace of him since.
And that’s it.
What has changed is that in January, South Yorkshire Police were given £700,000 by the Home Office funding to support the Greek authorities to continue to search for Ben. Helping children is now very much the police’s top priority. They let them down in the UK; but Ben will not be failed. Now that the talk is of Establishment paedos, cover-ups and an insitutional culture of denial, Ben Needham is a priority.
DS Matthew Fenwick, who is in charge of the inquiry, says:
“We will ask anyone out there if they’ve ever had doubts about where they come from; if they look completely different to their family or perhaps there are no photographs of them as a baby. We will ask anyone with these doubts to come forward – we have a sample of Ben’s DNA, so we can easily determine whether someone is indeed Ben.”
Kerry Needham was a young, working-class mother from Sheffield when her son vanished on the island of Kos. She was 19. Ben was 18-months old. Kerry has been at work as a waitress at a hotel. She’d left Ben with her parents Chris and Eddie Needham, who had left the UK for a new life in a place called Paradisi.
Ben was playing outside. And then he was gone.
Kerry is now 43. She remains tireless in her quest for truth:
“Ben will be found. As soon as the calls started coming in it felt like this is a new beginning. We have lived our lives like a roller coaster with every day torture.We have had many disappointments over the years. It’s devastating when it’s not Ben. There are now leads being followed up. We can’t go into details. I hope Ben has a good life. I have to hope he is healthy and happy.”
Such is the mother’s love.
The Mirror then speculates:
If Greek police can positively identify and trace the man in the picture they will carry out DNA tests.
If.
Posted: 17th, May 2015 | In: Reviews Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
